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CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

The Type of Training You Need the Most, But Are Not Doing

Mobility is a big buzz word in the health, fitness, and performance world. Open any fitness magazine or Instagram page and you can read about ways to improve mobility. While the information is abundant, there is still a lot of confusion as to what it is and how to add it into your everyday life.  So, let’s take a moment to define, validate, and incorporate mobility.

Mobility- What is it?

Though flexibility is a component of mobility, they are not the same thing!  Mobility primarily focuses on the body’s ability to self- control a joint though its full range of motion with the goal of establishing new and useable ranges. Flexibility, on the other hand, is the muscles ability to lengthen regardless of control or strength. For example, if you lie on your back and try to bring your leg straight up in the air, you may find that it stops well before that 90-degree angle you so desire. However, if you ask your Flow Personal Trainer to push your leg back as far as the muscle will allow, you may find that you can successfully get to 90 degrees (if not further). In this instance you have proven that you have the hamstrings flexibility to get to 90 degrees but lack the requisite strength and mobility (primarily in the hips) to get there yourself.

Mobility- What is it good for?

Now that we understand what mobility is (or isn’t). Let’s discuss how it can help you. For starters, mobility training keeps your joints healthy by continually ‘reminding’ them of what they are supposed to do (allow movement) and how they are supposed to do it (with control). Like most things, when un-challenged, the body will lose abilities it no longer thinks it needs. Further, by having healthy joints and strength at various ranges of motion, you may reduce the chance of injury (ankle roll, hamstring pull, etc.) because the joint has “been there before” and you have actively established resiliency.

Another great advantage is that improved mobility increases performance by allowing you to move into various positions (like a squat) while having the strength to control the weight without compensation.  Finally, improved mobility in areas like the ankles and hips take stress away from joints primarily meant for stability, like the knee and lower back. So, before you toss out your running shoes and take deadlifts out of your program, consider mobility. 

Mobility- How to do It?

For most of the population, you can never mobilize too much, and you should do mobility training every single day (2-3 times per day if you want to bullet proof your body). This does not have to be a marathon session lasting several hours as 15-30 minutes per day will do wonders.  Further, we recommended you mobilize first thing in the morning, after long periods of sitting, and prior to any physical activity.

While focusing on every single joint would be ideal, the areas we find most beneficial to focus on are the ankle, hip, thoracic spine (middle back), and shoulders.  Finally, mobility drills should be done in various positions such as standing, tall kneeling, seated, or lying (stomach and back) and with control (i.e. Slowly)

If you are looking for detailed instructions on how to properly mobilize and gain physical freedom, we strongly recommended attending one of our Kinstretch Classes in Fremont on Tues @ 6:30pm and Thurs @ 7:30am, as well as, our Personal Training, Strength Camp, and Team Conditioning sessions which include several mobility exercises throughout each workout.

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Nourish.

Underperforming? Try This All-Natural Enhancer

Whether it is at work or in the gym, we are all looking for an edge.  We work hard for our goals, yet sometimes our progress stalls, like a teenager learning to drive a stick shift.

There are many ways to get great results, and often they’ll cost you money for a special product that may not even help.   However, there are plenty of natural ways to enhance your performance without costing you a penny.  Simple tweaks to help push you past that plateau.

Below is a natural way to maximize your results while in the gym.

Hydration

While drinking water sounds painfully obvious, did you know that most Americans are constantly in some form of dehydration? Being properly hydrated will help almost every aspect of a person’s life. Water is essential to maintain blood volume, regulate body temperature, and allow muscle contractions to occur. Further, water has a thermogenic effect on the body that has been proven to aid in fat loss. Finally, when properly hydrated, your exercises will “feel” easier, allowing you to move and feel better while in the gym.
You should aim to drink about half you weight (in ounces) of water each day. For example, an 180lb individual should drink at least 90oz of water. A quick and tasty way to improve your water is to add freshly sliced limes, lemons, or cucumbers. How do you know if you are properly hydrated? The simplest way to know is by the color of your urine. It should be clear with or have an off-yellow tone.

There are many different means to become hydrated outside of drinking water. All fluids can be used for hydration (except alcohol). Focus on consuming or drinking the following: Water (unflavored or naturally flavored), sports drinks, soup (watch out for high sodium levels), low fat milk (non-fat or 1%), coffee, herbal tea, and fruit (watermelon is 90% water, oranges, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, etc). In fact, eating more fruit is an excellent way for those wanting to lose weight. Fruit will have fewer calories and re-hydrate you simultaneously. It’s a win-win situation.
For more re-hydrating fruit examples, click here.
You lose more than just water during your workouts. When you sweat, you are losing electrolytes, such as potassium and sodium. An easy way to replace those lost electrolytes is to drink a sports drink (i.e. Gatorade, Powerade).

Sports drinks have three primary roles:
1 – prevent dehydration
2 – replace electrolytes
3 – provide carbohydrates for exercise use.

Fair warning – Sport drinks can range from 20-150 calories, primarily consisting of carbs, so be wary if you are on a low carb diet. Simple solution is to pour out ½ the contents in your Gatorade and replace with water (dilution).

So next time you start looking on-line or in your local health food store for the “Next Big Thing” to help you improve performance. Take a moment and ask yourself how hydrated you keep yourself through the day. Chances are if you have not been at your best, water will make all the difference and cost you very little!

Written By, Flow Coach Mackennon Klink, BS, CSCS, PN1

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

Are you putting enough effort into your training?

Learn how to accurately gauge your level of intensity to ensure that you don’t fall short of your goals!

Has this happened to you ?
You’ve committed to going to the gym consistently and are completing your workouts and making progress. Occasionally, however, those dumbbells you used last week seem to be heavier and now feel like 100lbs versus the 35lbs that is clearly labeled.

What’s going on here ? Are you getting weaker ? If you have a well-designed program that prevents overtraining and plateaus, then the answer is most likely no! However, what may have changed in this scenario is your rating of perceived exertion (RPE).

What is RPE?
RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a subjective measurement of how much work you are putting into a given movement or exercises. RPE takes into consideration feelings of effort, strain, discomfort, and/or fatigue which are then quantified on a scale of 6-10. If you train long enough, eventually you will have those days where high intensity feels like a warm-up and vice versa, which is totally normal. What the RPE scale allows you to do however, is have additional data points in which to track your workouts beyond the standard Sets, Reps, and Weights. RPE actually allows you to self-assess each movement and gives immediate feedback as to “how it felt”. This in-turn allows you to make necessary adjustments to ensure you progress. Further, you can proactively program your workouts based on RPE’s to distinguish between low, medium, and max intensity days versus randomly coming into the gym and saying “It’s going to be a light workout today”
While there are a myriad of factors including sleep and stress that can affect RPE, it is best to be honest with yourself and use how you feel in the moment to dictate your next move. If you underestimate your RPE and go too intense next set or round, you can potentially hurt yourself and/or hinder your progress.

The RPE Scale
RPE works on a scale of 6-10 and should be used before (how I want to feel during) and after (how I actually felt during) each exercise. As you improve your ability to evaluate your effort level, the two numbers should be identical.
RPE of 10 – Max Effort –“ Zero reps left in the tank”
RPE of 9 – Heavy lift – “One rep left in the tank”
RPE of 8 – Difficult lift – “Two reps left in the tank”
RPE of 7 – Moderately difficult lift – “Three to four reps left in the tank”
RPE of 6 – Minimally difficult lift – “four or more reps left in the tank”

As a general rule you want to feel stimulated, not annihilated after your workouts and should be at 7-8 RPE with the occasional 9-10 RPE days, which should be followed by several days at 6 RPE (Recovery/Deload).
Truth be told, a lot of us are not working as hard as we could be in the gym as effort can be difficult to accurately gauge. The RPE scale is a simple and effective way to properly monitor exercise to know if you are being properly challenged or if you need to work a little harder in order to reach your goals.

Written by, Flow Coach Mackennon Klink, B.S. CSCS, PN1

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

Five Simple Ways to Measure Progress

By Flow Coach Mackennon Klink, BS, CSCS, PN1

Whether it is a kitchen remodel, job promotion, or increasing “followers” on Instagram, there is no better feeling than to see how far you have come after starting something. This holds true for your fitness goals as we know there is no bigger discouragement than lack of progress after countless hours in the gym. While there are many ways to assess overall progress, the 5 listed below are the ones that I have found most reliable when addressing more aesthetic fitness goals (i.e. not only feel your best but look your best in the process). As a rule of thumb, progress should be tracked every 4 to 6 weeks.

1. Progress Pictures

While quality of life should be your primary goal, we do understand that people also want to “look” as great as they feel. Pictures serve as a great motivator as they will always be there to provide inspiration and a sense of accomplishment in how far you have come.

Progress photos should be taken at the beginning of your fitness journey, then preferably every 4-6 weeks in regular intervals. Here are a couple of tips when taking your photo:

· Take photo at the same time of day
· Wear the same clothes
· Use the same lighting and background
· Save photo as full size and with high resolution
· Take pictures from the front, profile , and back
· Pose as the REAL YOU (No flexing, tightening, or sucking in)

2. Body Circumference Measurements

Placement of fat is a significant factor in the risk of disease. Those with a high percentage of fat in the abdominal region are more at risk than those with the fat located elsewhere. A common method to assess this potential risk is to obtain a waist to hip measurement and its corresponding ratio. For health reasons, it is recommended that waist to hip ratios be <0.90 and <0.80 for men and women, respectively.

· Record each measurement to the 1/8 inch
· Here is a great video to show you how to conduct a waist to hip assessment

3. Body Fat Percentage

Body fat assessments are a common form of measurement to track overall body composition (fat mass vs. lean muscle mass) and is my preferred indicator of overall progress. Unfortunately, body fat measurements are more difficult to “self-administer” and in-home devices are usually inaccurate. My advice is to invest the $35-50 it cost to do Hydrostatic Weighing, Dexa-Scan or Fit3D Scan (currently offered at Flow Fitness) as these represent the “Gold Standards” in reliable body composition measurements.

Check out the table below to see which category you fall into:

Body Composition Category Women Men
Essential Fat 10-12% 2-4%
Fitness 14-20% 6-13%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%
Unhealthy 32% or higher 26% or higher

4. Writing Stuff Down
If you are serious about getting results, you will need to start tracking your workouts. What does tracking your workout and progress looks like? It begins with having a workout plan in place and writing down what you did. For example:

· If you did 5 sets of 5 reps of back squats at 225 last week, then you’ll need to do 5 sets of 5 reps of back squats at 230+lbs the following week to get stronger.

· If you did 3 sets of 5 pull ups last week for a total of 15 pull ups, then you’ll need to do 16+ pull ups the following week to get stronger.

A journal (and a pen) only cost you a few bucks and can make a huge difference in your training and results.

5. The Scale

For the record, I am not a big fan of using bodyweight as a metric for tracking progress. With the primary reason being that our weight fluctuates daily from 2-5 pounds! In addition, too many people allow the number on the scale to radically impact their mood and how they feel about themselves. However, if you choose to use the scale to measure progress, step on the scale the first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom and before drinking or eating anything.

Along with pictures and measurements, the scale is simply another tool in your toolbox to assess progress, so you can adjust your current plan when needed. Remember transformation does not happen overnight and the best way to ensure progress is to stay consistent in your training plan and by enjoying the sense of accomplishment that follows.

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

Four Reasons Your Body Failed You!

Have you ever had a workout where everything just feels “blah”?  Exercises that normally are performed with style and grace feel uncoordinated, clumsy, and “harder than it normally is”. Though we understand that some days will just be better than others, no one should feel as if they have taken several steps backward. So, before you let your frustration get the best of you, ask yourself: “Am I giving my body the best opportunity to succeed”? Because a lousy workout is usually the body telling you that you are failing in 1 (if not all) of 4 areas.

1. Movement Preparation and Ponder

Delete the word “warm-up” from your vocabulary and along with it the useless 10-minute jog or stationary cycling you typically do prior to activity. Instead, think in terms of preparing your body for movement and focus on the joint mobility, muscle activation, and stabilizing drills necessary for success. For example, if your training plan includes squats and lunges, prepare the body by mobilizing the ankles and hips, activating the muscles of the glutes, and stabilizing deep lying core muscles through various breathing drills. Following your workout, take a moment and ponder how each exercise felt and what areas of the body may have let you down. Focus on addressing those areas via stretching, foam rolling, and additional mobility work before you leave the gym.

2. Hydration.

H20 is one of the easiest things to address and offers immediate benefits towards performance. The other great thing about hydration is you can assess your hydration levels frequently every time you hit the rest room. If your urine is clear to faint yellow you are good to go! However, if your urine is ‘Big Bird yellow’ to ‘paper bag brown’, you need to up the water intake immediately.  To aid in hydration, seek to add natural electrolyte mixes into your water and avoid bottled water with additives or coloring.

3. Pre/ post workout fuel (food)

Because food is not easily accessible (as compared to water) this tends to be a main culprit in poor performance. Pre-workout food should be more carb focused (YES, THEY ARE GOOD FOR YOU) as carbs will be your primary fuel source during most activities. Post Workout, your focus should be on replenishing what you lost (carbs, H20, electrolytes) and eating clean protein sources to maintain and/or build muscle. Best practice is to have your meals prepared prior to the workday, so you have performance enhancing food sources at your fingertips throughout the day.

4. SLEEP

Besides having cool dreams of saving the world from evil space aliens, sleep allows you to perform at your best physically, and cognitively. Unfortunately, life involves conflicts that deny you the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep necessary. To combat this dilemma, make every moment of your pre-sleep routine count by eliminating cell phones, tv shows, heavy meals, or caffeine before your head hits the pillow. Instead have mindful self-reflection, stretch, and practice deep breathing exercise about 45 minutes prior to bed. When able, find a quiet area to take a quick 20-30-minute nap during day.

By addressing these 4 areas, you will find subpar workouts to be a thing of the past and can keep your energy focused on improving your quality of life for the long road ahead!

written by, Erin White Flow Fitness Coach

CategoriesBlog Live Fit.

The Biggest Mistake New Athletes Make in the Weight Room

New athletes make dozens of mistakes beginners make, and we’ve all been there. The journey from nervous newbie to seasoned vet with the physical progress to show for it comes with plenty of bumps in the road. Contrary to popular “broscience,” though, the most common mistake beginners make isn’t using the smith machine or missing their “anabolic/nutrient window” — it’s learning to be patient.

Whether you are looking to train for your favorite sport during the off season, to start competing in powerlifting or bodybuilding, or just to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without breaking a sweat, having patience is the single most significant indicator of success or failure.

Programming Flip-Flops

We’re not talking about programming a light show into the shoes you had in the ‘90s — we’re talking about using impatient, inconsistent, and self-defeating training methods. The epitome of all of these is program hopping.

If you’re going to see progress in any area, you need to be in a dedicated relationship with the training that will develop that progress. When you start jumping between programs like a kangaroo in a circus tent, you’ll be spinning your wheels plenty, but going nowhere. Program flip-flopping is bad for two reasons: First, you don’t allow yourself time to develop new motor patterns; and second, you never develop a significant enough progressive overload to challenge your body.

Movement Patterns

Borrowing Bruce Lee’s famous metaphor, “be water.” In our application, however, it’s not about fluidity in performing high-flying kicks or martial arts, but in developing the path of least resistance. Your movement patterns develop in the same way that a river carves out a path for itself.

All movement begins in the mind. From there, your central nervous system sends a series of signals throughout your body to initiate that movement. The first time you do it,  it’s sloppy. If you’ve never performed an overhead press before, you’ll be doing it with all the coordination of a baby’s first steps. The biggest difference between a toddler learning to walk and Usain Bolt are the developed motor skills.

The signal sent from your central nervous system will force its way through the movement. You won’t be graceful, but you’ll get the job done. As you continue practicing the movement, however, your body becomes more comfortable with it, developing more efficient pathways to send those neural signals through. The more you practice this movement, the more natural it becomes, just like water carving out a normalized riverbed to run along.

Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is the principle that all physical training must implement for you to make progress. Simply put, for you to become stronger, faster, or more athletic, you must continually push your muscles harder than they are used to. Usually, this means increasing the resistance you work with.

Practice Makes Perfect

You start making progress when you combine these two principles. Unless you are constantly challenging your muscles with established and efficient movement patterns, you will not see progress. Beginners often find they can make incredible gains when they first start, and then that progress slows. Becoming discouraged, they move on to a new program. What happens in these cases is that motor patterns are established, making the exercise easier, but then progress slows down because it  takes longer for the body to adapt to a challenge than it does to start learning a new movement.

When you start a program, stick to it. Making large strides can take years, and if you only look at the day-to-day, you’ll be painfully disappointed. If daily and weekly progress is your goal, you should document your progress in depth every day to see the measured difference in the numbers. Whatever you do, however, be patient, and don’t be a program hopper.

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

3 Training Techniques Every Runner Should Be Doing

Summer in the Pacific Northwest = time to get outside, right?  Except for when you can’t, because aches and pains are getting in your way, or worse: you’re sidelined by injury.  How can you stay outdoors, do everything you love to do and potentially reduce the occurrence of injury? Easy.  Train inside to maximize running time outside.

And by training inside,  I’m not talking about running on a treadmill or hitting the elliptical.  Those are two very familiar pieces of equipment, and have their place in a training program (maybe) but in order to stay in prime movement shape you’ll want to get a little uncomfortable and hit these three areas (at least):

1)  Explore all the planes.  There are three planes of motion: sagittal (forward or backward:running), transverse (rotational: golfing/twisting), and frontal (side to side: jumping jacks).  Most of us move through the majority of our days in the sagittal plane.  As runners, that’s our area of strength – but in order to be truly strong, it is imperative to move in different planes of motion.  Side shuffle, skaters, twisting, lunging diagonally, and more. Classes that have a variety of movement are great ways to break your plane. Cross training on the bike or the elliptical or stair machine is not, as it’s moving in the same plane as running.  Your Challenge:  learn about the planes of motion and aim to move in a different one this week.

2)  Strengthen your backside.  We are a quad dominant society, spending most of our days squashing our backsides by sitting.  Many injuries originate in the hips, and get you in the knees. Strength training not only makes your stronger, it also increases joint stability, which can reduce repetitive stress injuries.  Your Challenge:  Squat.  Deadlift. Do some clam shells and leg swings.  Strengthen that hip girdle, core and those glutes.  You won’t be sorry.

3)   JUMP, HOP, AND SKIP.  Frog jumps, jump squats, skipping, high-knees = plyometric training. Plyometrics can improve your running economy. When your foot lands with each running stride, your tendons and muscles store elastic energy, which can be utilized for the subsequent push off the ground. The better you utilize this energy, the better your running economy becomes.  Jumping/skipping/hopping are good and good for you.  Your Challenge:  add some play to your workout this week.  Plyometrics aren’t easy, and are not always fun – but they can do wonders for your ability to move.

Choose one of these areas (or challenges) once a week.  Strength training in many different forms results in stronger joints, better efficiency and a longer time to exhaustion. Put simply, you’ll be able to run faster, longer and stronger.

Now get outside!

CategoriesBlog Live Fit.

Rest Periods – The Missing Link in Your Training

Written By  Flow Coach, Mackennon  Klink  B.S.,  CSCS,  PN1 

When  it  comes  to  training,  recovery  and  rest  periods  are  often  overlooked and under-valued in most fitness programs even though it has  a huge influence in your overall success. Unknown to most, programmed rest is just as important to your workout as exercise selection, sets, reps, and nutrition. The main question to ask yourself when determining adequate rest is what are you training for?   Hopefully, you know this answer even before you enter the gym, and once identified,  rest should be reflected accordingly. 

Below is a cheat sheet to help ensure you are getting the most out of your rest time:

   

Training Goal                                                                          Rest Period (b/t Sets or Exercises)

Metabolic Conditioning                                                                     0- :30 Seconds

Muscle Development  (Hypertrophy)                                           :30 seconds – 2:00 minutes

Strength Training                                                                               2:00-3:00 minutes

Max Strength Training                                                                      3:00- 5:00 minutes

Power Development (highly technical)                                        5:00-10:00 minutes

Metabolic  circuit  training  incorporates  minimal  rest  periods  (<30  seconds)  to  challenge  your  muscles  and  aid  in  conditioning.  However,  keep  the  weights  between  30-50%  of  your  max  to  reduce the occurrence of  injury.  For  example,  if  your  goblet  squat  max  is  100lbs,  goblet  squat  with  either  30-50lbs.    

For  your  hypertrophy  training,  keep  your  rest  period  between  30-120  seconds.    The  more  intense  the  exercise  (i.e.  more  weight),  the  closer  you’ll  be  towards  120  seconds  of  rest. 

If  your  goal  is  build  maximum  strength,  keep  your  weights  high,  reps  low  (1-5)  and  the  rest  periods  longer.   General  rule  of  thumb  is  to  keep  the  rest  periods  longer  between  sets  at 3-5  minutes.

With  highly technical movements such as the power clean, which stresses the central nervous system, keep rest times higher (depending on the weight) to ensure that you can perform the lift with maximum speed, effort,  and perfect technique each and every time.     

If  your  training  goals  aren’t  in-line  with  your  rest  periods, you  won’t  see  your  intended  results!   Also,  keep  your  workouts  within  60  minutes.    Your  testosterone  levels  are  at  their  highest  level  within  20-50  minutes.    After  that,  testosterone  levels  begin  to  taper  off  and  cortisol  levels  (stress  hormone)  will  dramatically  increase.  These  simple  changes  will  put  you  in  the  driver’s  seat  on  achieving  your  training  goals.  Regardless  if  you  are  a  complete  beginner  or  a  seasoned  veteran,  monitoring  your  rest  periods  will  help  you  crush  your  training, hit your goals, and remain injury free.   

CategoriesBlog Live Fit.

Rep Volume and Why It Matters

Burning fat, building muscle, or getting stronger — most athletic and aesthetic goals fall into or combine these three categories. Whatever your goals, however, resistance training is a must. But that doesn’t mean 500 curls with the 0.5-pound pink dumbbells off in the corner. It means an intelligently planned program that includes a rep scheme that dictates how much volume you train with for each exercise and that deliberately pushes you just to the point of failure.

That was a lot of jargon. Let’s break it down:

  • Resistance training:
    • Another term for strength training, resistance training is “a form of physical activity that is designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a muscle or a muscle group against external resistance.”
  • Aesthetic lifting:
    • Typically associated with bodybuilding or modeling, aesthetic goals are focused on sculpting the body to a specific design.
  • Rep schemes:
    • Reps and sets are the backbone of any program. Every set has a specific rep (repetition) range in it. So, if you have a program that requires you to perform 3×5 squats, you will be doing three sets with five squats in each set. If a program has you doing 4×6, you will be performing four sets of squats with six repetitions per set. You rest between each completed working set.
  • Volume:
    • Volume is how much work you do. It is the total amount of weight moved over each rep of every set. If your squatting rep scheme  is 4×10 at 315 pounds, your volume for that particular exercise is 12,600 pounds.
  • Working sets:
    • Working sets are different from your warm-up sets. Any physical activity, be it running, lifting weights, boxing, or playing guitar, requires that you warm up before you can safely and effectively go full speed. Working sets are those included in your program as opposed to the preliminary lightweight repetitions intended to “wake your muscles up.”
  • Point of failure:
    • When your body simply will not go any further, you’ve reached your point of failure. If you can successfully do 20 pushups before your technique begins to degrade, then your point of failure for pushups is 20 reps. Only when pushing your limits does your body begin to adapt to the stress, so that you can eventually surpass those limits.

If this were the end of it, you might have a convincing case for those plastic 0.5-pound pink weights off in the corner, but it’s not. The body adapts to the type of stress you place it under. If you challenge the maximum amount of weight you can carry, it will adapt with gains in strength. If you challenge how many repetitions you can perform, it will adapt to be able to perform more repetitions. These physical adaptations show themselves in different ways. Increases in muscle size are referred to as hypertrophy, and do not directly translate into increases in strength. Similarly, increases in strength do not translate into massive differences in muscle size. Muscle size does increase with strength-focused resistance training, but at a much lower rate than if you were training specifically for hypertrophy.

Controlling your rep volume allows you to deliberately manipulate how your body adapts to the stress you place on it. This way, you can control whether you maximize strength gains, muscle size, conditioning, or a balance of all three.

Where exactly your volume and rep scheme should fall for your goal varies according to several schools of thought, but a few proven standards have stood out for providing solid results.

Getting Stronger

If you want to get stronger, you need to give your body a reason to get stronger. Performing too many reps will detract from the total amount of weight you’re moving per rep. Rep schemes of 3×3 and 3×5 tend to maximize strength gains.

Building Muscle

For building muscle and increasing size, like a model or bodybuilder, you want to do higher-volume work. This means using less weight, even though the only way to reliably get stronger is to lift heavy weight.

Look at it this way: The person who overhead presses 185 pounds with a rep scheme of 3×3 achieves a total volume of 1,665 pounds. The person who overhead presses 135 pounds with a rep scheme of 4×8 achieves a volume of 4,320 pounds.

The first person will make more progress in strength, but the second person will develop muscle size far more quickly.

Establish Your Goal and Design a Program That Will Help You Reach It

That mouthful of a header says exactly what you need to do. Every exercise and detail about how you approach it is a tool you can use to achieve a specific goal. If you want more defined muscles, increase your volume; if you want to get stronger, regularly challenge how much weight you can move with strict form. In either case, consistency is key. Keep grinding away, and you’ll get where you want to be.

CategoriesBlog Live Fit.

Four Tips to Maximize Your Workout Recovery

written by Flow Trainer, Erin White.

I’m sure we have all been there. Finished workout after workout, but yet not quite having the energy or strength to finish the workout fully satisfied or feeling accomplished. Or how I put it is – everything feels so heavy today, I feel like I took a couple steps backward.

Sure we will have good days and bad. There will be times your body is just not always feeling it. But a big part of us being able to have the energy, endurance and strength for our workouts is nutrition and RECOVERY.

1. Mobility/ stretching- (BEFORE + AFTER) So often we want to dive right into a workout, ( I myself am guilty!). What we need to remember is to prep our muscles for movement. We need mobility and stability. Meaning we stretch and lengthen those muscles we are using, open up those joints (example- shoulders, hips) and then we get those muscles firing or activated with smaller movements. (we get those muscles warmed up and ready to GO!) And yes it’s a before and after kind of thing. After the workout a lot of times a self myo-fascial release technique will also help (example: foam rollers and lacrosse balls).

2. Hydration. We all better know this one. H20. H20! So many incredible benefits for the body from hydrating, drinking tons of water. But especially when trying to keep our bodies hydrated through intense exercises. Try adding some natural electrolyte mixes into your water next time. And think CLEAN, less additives the better. But take a peak at ingredients and make sure you got those good electrolytes.

3. Pre/post workout fuel (food)– We always want to make sure we are working out with some food/nutrients in our system. This can be discussed more with nutrition. But yes food is fuel so it’s incredibly IMPORTANT to stay on top of your nutrition. Post workout is also so crucial. We put out a lot of energy during training, therefore we need to refuel our bodies. Thinking about a good clean protein and carb to replenish our glycogen stores and feed our muscles, to help them maintain and grow. (example: protein shake with some almond milk and bananas/fruit of some kind). Need more examples? Feel free to ask any of our trainers.

4. SLEEP – One of the most important factors, that most Americans don’t get enough of. I get it, life can be crazy. There might be some nights where we aren’t getting those 7-9 hours of sleep due to schedules, jobs, kids. That’s life, right? But making fitness a priority, we also need to somehow make sleep one as well. If not at least try to catch up on it when we can. If we aren’t letting our bodies repair and recover, those workouts will eventually suffer. Remember to take care of your bodies. When we train hard, train like athletes we need to recover and eat like athletes as well!