Does Slow Lifting Build Huge Muscles?

This blog entry will be a short look into answering the question of whether lifting weights at a slow rate helps to build up huge muscle mass.

Recent studies have shown that slow lifting leads to a long workout - and that is about it! The study, from the University of Alabama had two sets of people completing 29 minute workouts. The first group exercised using a 5 second up phase followed by a 10 second down phase - essentially meaning that, during pull ups for example, they pulled up over 5 seconds and returned to the starting position over 10 seconds. The other group used a more traditional 1 second up, one second down method of exercising.

The results from the experiment showed better performance from the group that performed faster repititions. They burned 71% more calories than the slower group and ended up lifting 250% more weight than the slower group too.

A Great Test

This blog entry will look at a great test to see where we are at with our push-ups (press-ups if you prefer). First of all, we will quickly look at what the benefits of push-ups are.

Benefits of Push-ups

There are a number of benefits to doing push-ups on a regular basis. First of all they work a number of different muscles. The main muscle groups worked doing push-ups are the triceps, the chest and the shoulders. Secondly, regular push-upping(!) can increase our general fitness levels. Another great advantage to doing push-ups is that they are very convenient. No weights are needed so we can complete push-ups everywhere and anywhere, meaning there are no excuses to not be exercising. Push-ups can also be used to increase our strength. There are a number of other benefits associated with doing the exercise too!

The Test of the Push-ups

This test is designed to see how good we are at push-ups and it is very easy to do. All we need is a stop watch/timer. The idea is to complete as many push-ups as possible in 3 minutes. We can stop as many times as we like during this 3 minutes to rest, but we must keep the timer going. 55 push-ups is considered average and we need to be hitting 70+ to be considered good!

Completing this test can be beneficial in a couple of ways. First of all it allows us to have a 'rating' of sorts as to how good we are at push-ups. More importantly, it allows us to develop targets so that we can improve and develop with our push-ups. For example, if we complete this test 3 times a week, it gives us targets and goals to aim for each time, in order to try and improve upon our last result.

Post a comment letting me know what your record is!

Our Arms

The Arms

Today’s blog entry will look into the arms. It will examine the different muscles in the arms and see how they work and what they do for us. Find out all about the arms here!

What we want

Many of us want bigger arms. The rest of us want toned arms. Either way, exercise is the key to achieving these goals. However, it is important to know all about the arms to know how to develop them and achieve the goal that we want to achieve.

Our arms consist of various different muscles; the biceps, the triceps and the forearm muscles.

The Biceps

The biceps are the muscles found at the front of the upper arm and are responsible for moving the arm at the elbow joint. The biceps work in tandem with our rear shoulder and middle back muscles on exercises such as pull ups, but work alone for curls. Working the bicep muscles will give us strength and power for various daily lifting and climbing.

The Triceps

The triceps are three-headed muscles that are located at the back of our upper arms. The triceps are responsible for straightening the arms. There are many different exercises that target the triceps; the bench press, triceps extension, press-ups and the shoulder press are all exercises that will work our triceps.

The Forearm Muscles

The forearm muscles consist of the groups of small muscles that are found in our lower arm. The flexors, the extensors and the larger brachiordialis are all found in the forearms. These muscles are worked with many of the biceps exercises, such as pull ups and bicep curls.