PROTEIN SHAKES

Recently a report in the Consumer Reports Magazine has stated that on a test on 15 protein shakes readily available in market, all of them had traces of heavy metals(arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury). The concentration in most products were relatively low but three of them came up above the proposed safe limits.

Check the following video:




Consumer reports online story:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/july/food/protein-drinks/what-our-tests-found/index.htm



My take on this:
Too much of anything can be bad for you, so relying just on protein shakes is not a very good idea. Also it has been mentioned in the report, it is the over dosage of these protein supplements that can be harmful. As mentioned earlier in one of posts, supplements should only be used to supplement your nutritional needs. One should not go crazy with protein drinks. Having whole foods in your diet should be the primary source of protein.

LEGS: SQUAT THEM UP!!!

Often I notice many people in gym concentrating very hard on the upper body and neglecting their lower body all together. In-fact majority of lifters don't have a leg workout plan in their routine at all. The major reason behind this is that leg muscles are covered all the time, hence do not come under the category of 'showy' muscles such as arms and chest.However neglecting your lower body is not very healthy and is bad as far as overall posture is concerned.

First of all having a ripped and muscular upper body with tooth pick legs doesn't look great. Imagining of a person with bulging chest, huge arms, broad shoulders and a wide muscular back with thin legs appears nothing short of a cartoon character. This is a perfect example of disproportionate physique by neglecting a muscle group.


Secondly, having a strong lower body adds strength and muscle to the upper body as well. Legs are as important as your biceps. Building muscle depends on two factors: One is localized concentration in which you break a particular muscle fibre and then repair/ build them through proper nutrition. Other is through secretion of body building hormones such as testosterone which are released every time you train a muscle. Following the first approach solely, i.e training a particular muscle group over and over again falsely drives the body into injury mode and muscle building halts. So it is necessary to train all the muscles equally. One important point here is that quadriceps is the largest and most powerful muscle in the entire body. As a result you can stress them using heavy poundages which subsequently leads to more secretion of anabolic muscle building hormones resulting in overall development of body. These hormones play a big part in determining how much muscle mass someone can physically gain.

The third factor why leg workout should not be avoided is that this prevents us from many injuries that can happen with a weak lower body, hamstring pull and groin injuries common among them.

Running on a treadmill or sweating on a cross trainer does not constitute a complete leg workout plan. A big muscle such as quadriceps needs bigger resistance to stimulate muscular growth. So don't avoid your leg workouts if you want to have a balanced and strong overall physique.

Weight Training

Weight training programs are designed to develop basic, functional strength. Weight training is the most effective way to turn your body into a fat burning machine and to stay in great shape. While cardio is burning calories within the gym, strength training is burning calories outside the gym, i.e 24 hours a day. It is one of the most productive forms of exercise which leads to increased strength and a toned body. Having a good physique also has psychological effects and go a long way in boosting the self confidence of an individual.
In order to be successful with strength training there are some basic principles that must be followed to reap the benefitds of strength training.

1. Progressive overload: Progressive overloading means doing away with static weights, i.e one must force muscles to work harder each time. Rather than being stuck on the same weights throughout your workout, the load/resistance needs to be increased in order to break muscle fibre and induce growth. Also, one should not use the same weight every workout, regardless of how many sets or reps you do. Sticking to a particular weight group can halt the growth of the body. The best way to avoid this is by attempting to increase the resistance / weight used and, or increase the number of repetitions performed at each workout.

2. Intensity: Intensity of your workout is also very important. You must force your body to increase its strength. For example, if you typically do 3 sets of 10 reps bench press at 100 pounds, and your chest is capable of doing more reps say 15, then the point of momenatary failure of muscles is not reached. and the body is not going to make any improvements. You might feel the pump at that particlar moment but to add serious muscle one must force the body to work at a higher level than it is used to. The most effective way to overload your muscles is to perform two or three sets per exercise, and continue each set to muscular failure. That means continuing each set until no more repetitions are possible. Go challenge yourself!

3. Recovery: Last but not the least, once you have overloaded the target muscle group you must then allow for proper recovery. You must rest long enough to allow for recovery of the targeted muscle group, the nervous system, refill glycogen stores (Energy stored within your muscles), and also allow enough time for the muscles to make improvements or increases. This process takes time. Generally, it takes between 2-7 days to recover from a strength workout! The harder you work the longer it takes your body to repair. Don't hamper your progress by training a muscle group too often.