Tips of the week calves
Here's a quick solution for small calves
- Start with standing calf raises on a calf raise machine. Perform 8 repetitions with a 2 second pause at the lowest point of each repetition.
- Pause for 10 seconds.
- Load a barbell with 25% of your body weight. Hold the barbell in a squat position and jump up and down with minimal bend in your knees, bouncing your calves with each repetition. Perform 30 repetitions. The eccentric muscle damage caused by the landing will promote hypertrophy.
- Repeat this superset four more times.
If this won't make your calves grow, then nothing will make your calves grow.
Tip: Stop leaning backwards when deadlifting
Finishing deadlifts in a hyperextension position will hurt you. Here's why
By Will Davis
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-stop-leaning-back-on-the-deadlift
The end position of the deadlift should be characterized by a solid hip extension, which is generated by pushing the hips forward to the position where the bar physically prevents the hips from moving further forward.
However, many exercisers continue the movement by hyperextending the lumbar spine at the expense of the hips. However, this is a completely unnecessary and useless extension of the movement. Remember that the lumbar spine should remain in an extended position from the starting point to the end point of the movement.
The muscles responsible for maintaining this position achieve this through isometric contraction. Therefore, there is no need to change the shape of the lumbar spine during the exercise. In some cases, the exerciser will simply not be aware of how to use their hips during the deadlift, so they will resort to something that is more familiar - i.e. hyperextension of the lower back.
In other cases, the gluteus may simply be too weak to complete the movement, so the exerciser relies on excessive use of the lower back to help complete the movement. In both scenarios, using a lighter weight and/or revising the technique will help to promote a correct movement pattern. If this is not done, the extra strain on the lumbar spine will eventually take its toll.
Conclusion: Finish the deadlift movement with a strong and powerful hip extension. Stand up straight and resist the urge to lean back.
Tip: Replace leg extensions with a better alternative
There's a better exercise that targets your quadriceps...
By Dr. John Rusin
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-replace-the-leg-extension
The leg extension machine has been demonized in the fitness industry for the past two decades. It has been blamed for chronic knee irritation due to the high compression forces created in the knee joint, which causes damage to the joint surfaces.
This is a valid argument, but leg extensions have also helped build some of the most impressive thighs in bodybuilding. This exercise continues to be a staple exercise in the programs of those looking for maximum muscle hypertrophy due to the results it produces. So what's the answer if you want legs like tree trunks AND healthy knees? Replace leg extensions with something that will protect your knees in the long run.
A better exercise
While depletion of muscle fibers in the quadriceps is guaranteed by the leg extension machine, the same recruitment is possible through variations of exercises like lunges and split squats. If you have the ability to dominate static split squats and have earned the right to progression, then you should try split squats with an elevated rear foot.
Split squats with elevated rear foot(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-lpN1MB_uQ):
This exercise has the ability to generate massive amounts of mechanical and metabolic stress in the quadriceps and stabilizers of the posterior chain of muscles, making it an exercise that targets the quadriceps just as much as leg extensions. If you're looking for a way to generate as much pain as possible, give this exercise a shot. If you can't move your quadriceps after one set, you'll quickly forget about leg extensions.
Tip: Take curcumin every day
Curcumin is not only a natural anti-inflammatory, it also has 7 other benefits. Find out which ones.
From TC Luoma
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/tip-take-curcumin-every-day
Curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory, but its other benefits range from pain management to benefits that affect nearly every organ system in the body.
Curcumin can:
- Reduce body fat
- Improve cardiovascular health
- Support healthy cholesterol levels
- Alleviate cognitive decline
- Act as a natural aromatase inhibitor
- Reduce plaque in the arteries
- Reduce the risk of diabetes
And like pretty much everything that comes from plants, curcumin also has antioxidant properties.
Can't I just eat a lot of Indian food?
Curcumin is found in the spice turmeric, which is used in large quantities in Indian cuisine. Looking at the seemingly endless health benefits of curcumin, you would think that Indians must be the healthiest people in the world, but this is not the case. Unfortunately, the body does not absorb curcumin very well.
Simply consuming curcumin as the main ingredient in curry powder will not have much effect, regardless of the amount used. For this, you need to consume curcumin as part of a formula that includes piperine, which increases the absorption of curcumin by 2000%.
Tip: Perform push-ups with additional weight
Push-ups with added weight build strength and train your chest while keeping your shoulders healthy.
From Bill Rom
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-loaded-push-ups
Before barbells, there were push-ups. Push-ups are an exercise that has stood the test of time. Any healthy person should be able to perform this exercise. If you want to maintain the health of your shoulders in the long term, then it makes no sense to stick exclusively to barbell training for the chest muscles. Aside from the weight required, which is essential for barbell training, a barbell tends to put more stress on the joints than push-ups, regardless of the weight used.
Solid push-ups performed with an additional weight allow for normal movement of the shoulders and shoulder blades while still challenging your pecs. As an added bonus, they force your core to get stronger.
Perform 3 sets of 12 reps with a weight vest or heavy chains.
Tip: Stop using belts and bandages too often
Sometimes belts and bandages are needed, but sometimes they increase the risk of future injury. Here's why.
By Dr. John Rusin
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-stop-overusing-belts-and-wraps
Exercisers too often use extreme "training crutches" such as bandages, belts and other devices designed to hold body parts together that lack the necessary stability of ligaments, tendons and joints.
Bandages
Certainly, the use of knee supports can be a valid option to add more weight to squats and leg presses by adding a more elastic component to the lower range of motion. From a functional perspective, supports work - and they actually work very well. But what about long-term soft tissue and joint health?
Long-term and sustained use for a large number of sets per training day can lead to your joints being subjected to additional unwanted shear and compression forces. This won't happen after just a few sets of course, but it will happen over time if all your sets are performed under compression.
If you are performing movements with bandages over incomplete ranges of motion, then your best option is to normalize your ranges of motion - not wrap the bandages even tighter. The use of supports of any kind - whether they are sleeves or wrapped supports - can be seen as a metaphor for your whole life. If you are dependent on crutches, it will only be a matter of time before you fall and can no longer get up.
Weightlifting belts
The use of weightlifting belts is justifiable for strength athletes who know how to use such a belt correctly during strategic sets with maximum weights or insane intensities. As you may have noticed, I haven't said anything about beginners who are desperately trying to artificially inflate their already pitiful performances or have no practical place to attach their cell phone other than a weightlifting belt.
During some of the heavier basic exercises like deadlifts or squats, the use of a belt becomes almost a necessity if you want to maximize your performance. I have no problem with this. When used strategically, a weightlifting belt is a great tool.
However, you have to draw the line at the point where a weightlifting belt becomes a necessary crutch for pretty much any movement including arm workouts and elliptical workouts. Yes, yes, a strapped belt gives you a sense of stability in the lumbar spine, but shouldn't that feeling of instability tell you something?
Take the belt off and assess your basis of functionality. Only then will you be able to objectively assess your weak points, improve your weak points of stability and then use a belt correctly.
Are you a compression junkie?
Don't become a compression junky who relies on bandages, belts and other aids for every set. If your goal is to train for the rest of your life, then limit the use of external aids and start improving your internal stability, mobility and motor control. You'll thank me for this when you're 70 and still training hard.
Tip: Eat more to build up, but not so much more
Yes, you need to eat plenty of quality calories to build muscle, but many exercisers overdo it. Do the following instead:
By Chris Shugart
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-eat-more-to-build-but-not-that-much-more
Are you overdoing it with the "you need to eat a lot to get bulky and strong"?
Most men like to eat a lot. That's why it's easy to overdo it with the calorie surplus when building muscle is the goal. However, there is a difference between eating enough to provide your body with everything it needs for hard training sessions, recovery and hypertrophy and eating so much that you look more like a fatty with usable trapezius.
Big arms don't count if 10 centimeters of your upper arm circumference is fat. And if your belly is growing, then you can almost certainly assume that you are well beyond the calorie surplus needed to optimally support your muscle building process. You are simply building up stubborn fat deposits and perhaps even stretching your skin permanently instead of building muscle.
The worst case scenario
What does the worst case scenario look like? You develop anabolic resistance: the limited ability to build muscle caused by excessive calorie intake over a long period of time. This begins with insulin resistance, which is soon followed by leptin resistance and, when fully developed, manifests itself in excessive fat gain, a loss of pump during training, stagnant strength gains, inflammation and even a low libido. Also, shedding the excess fat after each mass-building phase will become harder and harder and soon you'll achieve that pot-bellied, pregnant look that will take years off your life.
The solution
Roughly 100 kcal above your maintenance calorie intake is all you need to promote muscle gains. Increase calories by this amount for a few weeks and then adjust accordingly. Remember that bodybuilding, not building a beer belly, is your goal. Use not only the scales, but photos, tape measures and mirrors to assess your progress. Use targeted training nutrition before, during and after training instead of fast food and sweets, because the quality of your food also plays a role.
Reality check
Many exercisers fall into this trap because they copy the diet of their favorite bodybuilders or muscular actors from action movies. The problem? Most people don't have the genetic predispositions of a professional and they don't use the chemical aids that these professionals use. All of these things allow for more leeway in diet. Professionals can get away with their insane diets for at least a few years because of their pharmaceutical aids. You can't. Follow the diet of these professionals and you will both get fat and ruin your health.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-your-calves-with-this-superset
By Charles Poliquin