Are you lifting enough weight?

After a diccussion last night with Tammy about max weight lifting and potential, I found this gem…

Are You Lifting Enough Weight?

If you lift weights, have you ever wondered whether you’re doing it right? Specifically, are you lifting enough weight? According to a study done by the University of Michigan, many of us aren’t. Researchers took beginners (both men and women) through a series of moves, allowing them to choose their own weight. After assessing their 1 rep max (the general standard for choosing weight), they determined that most chose a weight well below what was needed to stimulate muscle growth.

Are you guilty of going too light? If so, you may not be seeing the results you’d like. Learn more about why lifting heavier weights could change your entire body.

Why Lifting Heavy is the Key to Weight Loss

You know that losing fat involves increasing your metabolism. What you may not know is that muscle plays a huge role in raising metabolism. A pound of muscle burns about 10-20 calories a day while a pound of fat burns 5 calories. That means any growth in your muscle tissue is going to help you burn more calories all day long. In fact, strength training has all kinds of great effects on your body like:

• Increasing resting metabolic rate so you burn more calories, even while at rest.
• Making you lean and slim–muscle takes up less space than fat so, the more you have, the slimmer you are
• Strengthening bones and connective tissue, which can protect your body from injuries in daily life
• Enhancing balance and stability
• Building confidence and self-esteem

However…this only works if you’re using enough weight to stimulate that muscle growth. In other words, if you can lift the weights you’ve chosen (for most exercises) more than 16-20 times, you might not see the kind of fat loss you would if you increased your weight.

So, why don’t we lift more weight? For some, lifting weights is scary, especially if you’ve never done it before. The machines…the dumbbells…the people who seem to know what they’re doing…it’s enough to make anyone skip weights altogether. Aside from that, there are other fears that invade our minds, such as:

• It feels weird. The goal of weight training, if you didn’t know, is to lift as much weight as you possibly can (with good form!) for the number of reps you’ve chosen. In daily life, we typically don’t push ourselves to fatigue in anything we do, so this idea may not only feel foreign, it may feel downright miserable. That’s one reason it’s best for beginners to gradually work towards that.
• Fear of injury. Because our muscles burn when we challenge them with resistance, people often feel they’re injuring themselves when they lift. And injury can be a real fear for beginners since injury can occur if you max out before your body is ready for it. Taking it slow while still challenging your body will help protect you from injury.
• Confusion. When you haven’t lifted weights before, you may not know what’s too heavy and what’s too light. It may take some time to get a feel for your body and what it can handle.
• Fear of getting bulky. There’s still a tired old myth running around that men should lift heavy and women should lift light to avoid getting big and bulky. Women hear this: Lifting heavy weights will NOT make you huge–you simply don’t have the testosterone levels to build big muscles. Lifting heavy weights WILL help you lose fat.
• Fear of pain. The other thing about lifting weights is the psychological factor. The discomfort level associated with training to fatigue is pretty high…if you haven’t lifted weights before, you may not be able to overcome that discomfort enough to lift as heavy as you’re capable of. Again, this is one reason it’s best to err on the side of caution (if you need to), while always working towards more challenge and more weight.

These fears often keep people lifting the same amount of weight for weeks, months or even years. Most of these fears are unfounded, if you take time to ease into a weight training program and work (slowly) towards the muscle fatigue that will make your muscles grow.

From: About.com

To chalk or not to chalk

Recently some people have been suffering from blisters.  They are are painful, especially when they tear.  Here is some advice from Freddy C. of Crossfit One World:

“1) Cut the chalk! All that chalk is not helping your pull-ups and is not going to make your grip stronger. Chalk serves a purpose, to dry the hands so you can get better grip. I occasionally put a little chalk on my hands, then I make sure to rub my hands together until I no longer see any chalk. My hands are then dry, and I can grip the bar. When you heavily chalk your hands, your hands stick to the bar. You start kipping and all that violent movement transfers to your hands. If your hands don’t slide a little you tear. People with a very pronounced kip tear even more when they use excessive amounts of chalk. I often hear people say that they have to chalk heavily because they sweat profusely through their hands. Try drying them with a towel and then lightly chalking them as I described.

2) Take care of your callouses! If you are building up huge callouses on your hands, at some point they are going to tear. Knock those callouses down! You can use a nail file, cuticle cutters, or my favorite: a Dremel tool with a grinding stone on it. Jolie turned me on to this good advice: buy a good pumice stone and use it on your callouses in the shower when your callouses are warm and soft.   And don’t forget- your significant other will appreciate the fact that your hands do not feel like a cheese grater when you give him/her a massage!

3) Practice pull-ups with no kip! Dead hang pull-ups are an excellent way to build the strength to do pull-ups without a violent kip and make your kipping pull-up more proficient. ”

Freddy C. CrossfitOneWorld

Post your thoughts or suggestions to comments.

WOD – January 12th, 2010

These guys take their burpee’s seriously!

Perform 10 rounds:

3 Snatch Pulls @ 90% of 1 RM
6 Ring Dips
9 Knees to Elbows

Post times and loads to comments.

Note from Mark:

Hi guys, we have the Adventure Racing Wrap party this Saturday at FirePower. Everyone is welcome. It will be a licensed event with food and great presentations on adventure racing. It will run from 5 p.m. to 10ish depending on how much fun we are having.  Earlier in the day there is also an orienteering event at Hilton Falls in Milton (hey wait a minute, we are in Milton too!) Basically it is more of an informal training event and you will be a couple hours to wander around the woods with a map and compass and try to find these orange and white flags in the woods. Its cool and fun and great training for adventure racing if you think that you might want to get started in it. I will be there to help out.  Hope you decide to make it out more info is here  http://www.adventureracer.ca/Adventure_Racer/AR_Party.html

Goals

During the 5 PM class today I realized that folks struggling with things like; double unders, pull ups, etc, are maybe lacking goals.  Sure, we all want to be in better shape.  We come to the gym, hit the wod’s, but one year later we still can’t do a double under, etc.  Maybe because we’ve accepted the mundane as normal.  Not having goals is like going on a road trip without a map.  Sure, we all want to acheive super elite fitness, but what we need are short term goals.  I have a 455 lb max deadlift, my goal is to one day get 500 lbs.  This can be attained by setting a deadline and of course, lifting big weights.  I’ve put up a goal list on the white board.  Join in, put up a goal and give yourself a deadline.  Make it realistic, acheivable…10 more pounds in my shoulder press, kipping pull ups, or maybe handstand push ups.  Next step, work on it!  Come early, stay late…take advantage of open gym time, or even bust it out at home.  Set a goal and go for it, your firepower family will cheer you on!!

-Brian

“Core Training”

Gosh I love Mark Rippetoe! Read the attached article for a true understanding about “core” training.  Stick to the basics, ie. the lifts to build true “core” strength.  Then stick a knife in those Swiss balls, and turn off those infomercials promising a strong “core” with some silly device!  Oh yeah, the site is a keeper for great info…stay strong everyone!

Brian

http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/resources

ViTAMIN AND MINERAL DEFICIENCIES

Hey guys, please take the time to read the attached article…it may save your life, or at least make it longer!

-Brian

 

http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/2009/10/27/vitamin-deficiencies-mineral-deficiencies/

Keeping a food journal

Hey everyone,  I know we harp on keeping a journal about your training.  This is done so you can chart your progress, and see measurable results.  But how many of you record what you eat?  This is also important for self evaluation.  If lately you have been working hard, but spinning your wheels in weight loss, strength gains, etc.  Maybe you need to track what you put in your body, how it makes you feel after, and how you felt in the gym.  I think this is just as important as your training  journal.  I have spoken with a few of you recently about plateauing, and how to break out of it.  By tracking your nutrition, training, sleep patterns, etc.. you can map your way back on track!  I know this sounds time consuming, but maybe this investment of time in your health is worth a little sacrifice.  When lack of time is used as an arguement, I ask you this question; Who was voted off survivor last night?  If you know the answer, you have enough time to write your food consumption down!

See you all in the gym!

-Brian

Taping your hands for pull-ups

Hey everyone, here is some great instruction from Andy Petranek of Crossfit L.A., on taping your hands.  A little bit of time and effort can help with those ripped blisters.

See you all in the gym!

http://www.vimeo.com/4895278

More Nutrition Information

Hey guys, hope to see lots of you tomorrow on the trail run…meanwhile here is a great nutrition blog started by the folks at Crossfit Unlimited!  Your training can be perfect, but if your eating crap…you will look like crap!  Proper training does not make up for improper diet!!

http://www.nutritionize.net/

-See you on the trail, or in the Gym!

-Brian

P.S. Enjoy this really cool kettlebell video… this dude is tossing a 70lb kettlebell aroung like a baseball!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uj94oEZosc&feature=player_embedded

Are you new to crossfit, or looking to learn more?

Click on the link below and learn more about crossfit.  This is great for newbies or veterans!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11122326/CF-Start-Up-Guide-1

-Brian

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