Ladies, the gyms of America are filled with testosterone laden young men in their teens and twenties who are trying desperately to “bulk up” and can’t.  They are lifting as heavy as they can 5-6 days per week and eating enough calories to feed a small nation yet still struggle to add the muscle and pounds they want. 

Moral of the story….it aint gonna happen to you….even if we were trying.  The hormonal stucture is simply not in place for 90% of most females to add excessive amounts of muscle mass.  The women in my gym who have gotten the best results from their fitness program are those who have relaxed their fears of bulking up and train hard with barbells and dumbells in combination with a little cardio and a healthy diet. 

2.  Yoga and Pilates will give me “long lean muscles.” 

No form of exercise can permanently lengthen a muscle.  Muscles are attached to bones at fixed points around the joint.  So, your bicep muscle is attached at the elbow and the shoulder.  You can’t make that muscle longer without making the bone longer first.  You’d have to do some SERIOUS stretching to lengthen the bones! 

The truth is the muscles either get bigger or smaller.  They don’t tone and they don’t get longer.  The amount of bodyfat covering those muscles influences the way they appear on the body.   

Read her testimonial here:

http://www.kingwoodstrength.com/testimonials/

Frances is in her sixties, and started to realize just how rapidly basic functional strength starts to dissipate as we all age. 

Over the past 2 months Frances has trained here two times per week in sessions that run approximately 40 minutes.   The basic template for France’s workouts look like this: 

Tuesday:

Squats

Upperbody Exercise #1 – (different exercises each week)

Core Exercise (something for the abdominals)

Upperbody Exercise #2

Thursday:

Squats

Upperbody Exercise #1

Deadlifts – specifically targeting the low back musculature

Upperbody Exercise #2

This program is extremely simple, but simple is usually best.  It proved to be just enough to strengthen her body, but not let her get overworked and overtrained.

Mark doing a set of Kettlebell swings in the middle of his circuit. Kettlebell swings attack the legs,the core, and elevate the heart rate in a hurry

Long slow runs should be a thing of the past for today’s fighters and grapplers.  Sprints, interval training, and high intensity circuit training do a much better job of conditioning a fighter for what they are likely to encounter in the cage or on the mat. 

During a fight or grappling match the heart rate will get much higher than it will on a long run.  In the gym, fighters should choose conditioning modalities that spike heart rates up to what they will encounter in competition.  Likewise, they should seek to do exercises that train lots of muscle groups.  

Above and below are pictures of champion Jiu Jitsu player Mark Peltier going through a circuit about a week before competition.   We are constantly changing up Mark’s circuits to keep his body from adapting to any one form of exercise.  

Reclined Rows are like a modified pullup. They work the lats, biceps, and grip, all important muscle groups for a grappler like Mark.

We performed the following circuit non stop 5 times through:

200 meter sprint – 20 Push Ups – 20 Kettlebell Swings – 20 Reclined Rows

Brandon (left) sets up for a big right hand in Round 1 of his three round fight

Brandon fought in Caged Combat 7 at the Humble Civic Center on January 6th, and earned a decisive 3 round decision in the opening fight of the night. 

Brandon works his grappling and striking skills at Team Tooke in Houston, and trains his strength & conditioning here at KSC. 

Brandon is new to strength training so we have put him on a fairly basic strength program.  The focus of our training revolves around lots of squats, front squats, chin ups, powercleans, and deadlifts.

Brandon, just prior to stepping into the cage for the first time

First, in the gym – nice work on a new personal record for the deadlift.  Below is Jordan pretty easily handling a 350 lb Deadlift at a bodyweight of only 149 lbs.

Jordan is a senior at Kingwood High and all star pitcher looking to gain some weight and strength to improve the velocity on his fast ball.   Pitchers rely heavily on leg strength to generate power, and next to squats, deadlifts are our primary tool for building the hamstrings, glutes, back, and forearms.  Deadlifts get a bad rap for being dangerous…and they can be when done with too much weight and incorrect form.  However, when done properly they are an excellent strength builder for athletes and non athletes alike. 

Jordan has been at the gym for almost a year and has mastered the fundamentals of all the basic barbell exercises. 

Because of Jordan’s hard work this past year, he has been offered a scholarship to play baseball at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. 

Nice job and good luck Jordan.  I look forward to working with you for the rest of the spring and summer!