Tips of the week Prepare your own healthy ketchup

Did you know that the tomato stuff you buy in the supermarket and pour over everything isn't real ketchup, it's just the ugly, sugary junk food stepchild of real ketchup? This stuff doesn't even come close to what you'd call real ketchup and it's not particularly good for you either.

The good news is that you can make your own ketchup in less than 3 minutes. This version is healthy and packed with healthy ingredients like lycopene, which could reduce the risk of prostate cancer, among other things.

This homemade version has twice the flavor of the supermarket junk and is free of high fructose corn syrup and other questionable ingredients.

Homemade healthy ketchup

Ingredients

• 200 grams organic tomato puree
• 2 to 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• ¼ teaspoon dry mustard powder
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch of ground cloves
• 1 pinch allspice
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Optional: 1 teaspoon of calorie-free sweetener

Preparation

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Try these variations

1. Add more or less water if you want a thinner or thicker consistency.
2. Change the vinegar used to vary the flavor. Balsamic vinegar tastes very good.
3. Change the spice mix for endless variations. Garlic and onion powder work well. Chopped peppers can give the ketchup the necessary kick.

Tip: Don't do sit-ups on the reverse incline bench

The potential for injury outweighs the benefits, plus there's a much better exercise for the abs.

By Dr. John Rusin

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-ditch-the-decline-sit-up

What epic workout is complete until you've wedged your knees under the pads of the reverse incline bench and hammered your back against the pads for so long that your spine has lost the ability to move your hip flexors?

Sit-ups on the reverse incline bench may have their value for experienced exercisers when performed correctly, but once ego and extra weights come into play, this old-school basic exercise can quickly turn quite ugly and leave you in a world of pain.

The problem: shear forces and destabilization

To the average exerciser, sit-ups on the reverse incline bench seem quite similar to the traditional horizontal version: same muscle group and a similar movement. However, if you look a little closer at the intricacies of both movements, they can be surprisingly different and potentially harmful if not treated as two different exercises.

Where things get a little more complicated is when you look at the forces and range of motion produced during sit-ups on the reverse incline bench due to an increase in the angle of the incline compared to a flat on the back position. Due to the downward incline, the lever arm becomes significantly larger, which increases potentially damaging shear forces acting on the middle and lower segments of the spine.

The angle of the bench also creates a greater range of motion for the spine during the upward movement. More range of motion means more time spent in extreme ranges - especially lumbar and cervical flexion. If you repeatedly bring your spine into end flexion, this can potentially cause structural damage and damage to the soft tissue of the posterior and lateral structures of the spine and trunk.

Sit-ups on the reverse incline bench can be risky enough when using perfect mechanics, but the risks get out of control when people manipulate the following variables without thinking:

• Increasing the speed of the movement
• Increasing the load (holding a weight plate)
• Twisting or bending during the end range of spinal flexion

If you want to continue using sit-ups on the reverse incline bench as part of your training program, then you should perfect your movements using controlled muscle contractions and stay as close to a neutral spine position as possible, if you don't, sooner or later you will pay the price.

A better exercise: Vertical disc press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phn72o1qbRU

This exercise can target the abs to produce some serious results for the core.

1. Position your hips and knees in a 90-degree bent position to avoid hip flexor involvement.
2. Hold a weight plate directly in front of your chest with your arms straight and press vertically in a controlled manner

The rectus abdominis muscle is the primary spinal flexor that runs from the lower part of the sternum to the pubic bone. Because of these anatomical insertion points, this muscle can still be highly active even when the spine remains in a relatively neutral position during vertical disk presses.

The other key benefit of this exercise is that it can be periodized for progressive overload. Over time, you will be able to stabilize more and more weight as your strength increases.

Tip: Eat more white potatoes

Based on some study you've read, do you think potatoes are a bad source of carbs? Here's the truth.

From TC Luoma

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-eat-more-white-potatoes

A team of Harvard scientists once put together a study that looked at a large population and their disease rates. This study linked the consumption of potatoes to obesity and blamed potatoes for the resulting increase in blood sugar levels.

The fact is, however, that there are numerous other foods that cause similar increases in blood sugar levels but still correlate with a healthy body weight. As is often the case with scientists, the authors of this study ignored the big picture. As it turns out, they mixed up their results on potatoes and didn't differentiate between things like boiled potatoes, potato chips and French fries. With this in mind, it's no wonder that potatoes correlated strongly with obesity rates!

Other, much more elegantly designed studies, however, were unable to establish a correlation between potatoes and weight gain or an increased risk of disease. The potato is actually one of the good guys - provided you enjoy it in boiled or baked form.

Despite their lack of color, which is often indicative of a variety of phytochemicals, potatoes contain a number of carotenoids and flavenoids, as well as a useful amount and range of vitamins. There is therefore absolutely no need to eliminate them from your diet.

Incidentally, the old wives' tale that most of the nutrients are in the skin is not true - only 20% of the nutrients are found there. The rest is inside the potato, even though the skin contains a remarkable amount of fiber.

Tip: Perform Nordic leg curls (Nordic ham curls)

You don't even need any equipment for one of the best leg curl exercises

By Bret Contreras

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-nordic-ham-curl

Nordic leg curls have been studied extensively in the scientific literature - and for good reason: it's a highly effective exercise for the hamstrings. It can help prevent injuries to the hamstrings due to the emphasis on the eccentric phase, which potentially shifts the maximum strength of the hamstrings to a longer muscle length.

Nordic leg curls (Nordic Ham Curl)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO47AQuYphE)

This is an amazing exercise for the hamstrings and you will get much better at controlling the eccentric (lowering) phase of the movement the longer you use this exercise.

Are you advanced?

Advanced exercisers can perform this exercise without using their hands to reverse the direction of movement at the lowest point of the movement. However, there are very few exercisers who can perform 5 repetitions of this exercise without using their hands. Are you one of them?

Nordic leg curls with bands

Most exercisers are not even close to being able to control the entire lowering movement of the exercise. You will typically see people lowering their body in a controlled manner during the first half of the movement, but this is usually followed by a rapid movement towards the floor.

This rapid downward movement is accompanied by a sharp drop in muscle activation of the leg flexors, which is not what we really want. Instead, we want the hamstrings to be activated through the full range of motion. And this is where band-assisted Nordic leg curls come into play.

Using a band will help you control the eccentric portion of the movement, which will make your hamstrings stronger through the full range of motion and lead to greater growth.

Tip: Try 21 front squats

Build up your legs with this brutal combo.

By Ben Bruno | 01/18/16

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-front-squat-21s

Arnold popularized the 21-rep method for biceps curls: 7 partial reps at the bottom of the movement, 7 partial reps at the top of the movement, and then 7 reps through the full range of motion. This is the same thing, but with front squats. Yes, front squats. Your favorite exercise, right?

You will need to use a lighter weight than normal, which is especially true if you are using this exercise as a finishing exercise after heavier training. For this reason, holding the bar should not be a problem.

21-bar front squat

1. Start by performing 7 repetitions from the lowest point of the movement halfway up.
2. Without putting the weight down, perform 7 reps from the highest point of the movement to halfway down (you know, like most people do their regular squats).
3. Finish with 7 full front squats. The whole thing counts as one set.

Tip: Push presses for massive strength

Get strong at push presses and you'll get strong at everything else.

By Chris Shugart

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-push-press-for-massive-strength

Olympic weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay put it best: "Show me a guy who can move heavy weights on push presses (standing barbell shoulder presses with momentum from the legs) and he'll be able to excel at any other pressing exercise, even if he's never done it before. Push presses have a stronger carryover to presses in general than any other upper body exercise."

Great bench press strength doesn't have the same carryover, according to Pendlay: "I don't want to have a 200 kilo bench press guy who can't do anything else. The guy who can do heavy push presses won't have that problem. And this can't be achieved with strict barbell shoulder presses either. It's too hard to get the weight moving. You have a weak point at the beginning of the movement, which limits the amount of weight you can use."

With Push Presses, you can push 10 to 20% more weight up over your head. You're forced to develop the ability to recruit those muscle fibers very quickly because you're pushing the bar off your shoulders with your legs and then your arms have to come into play quickly to prevent the weight from stalling. "The ability to do this is very, very valuable," says Pendlay.

With push presses, there's a lot of overload at the highest point. The last 15 centimeters at the top are almost like a partial repetition. This has a powerful effect on the body.

Do it right

Pendlay's tips for push presses:

1. Place the weight correctly on your shoulders. Most people let the bar rest on their shoulder blades, but what you need to do is pull your shoulders up and move your elbows slightly forward so that the bar rests on your shoulder muscles.
2. At the end of the swing from your legs, immediately push with your arms. Think about the rate of force development. At the highest point of the movement, it is very important to end with the weight behind your head and not in front of it. At the very least, a vertical line pointing down from the bar should run behind your ears.
3. Pause briefly at the highest point of the movement for each repetition.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-make-your-own-healthy-ketchup

From Chris Shugart