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Pump Up Your Fitness!

© 2009 DW GROUP, LLC

TRAINING TIPS

1. Use good form! This is the most important thing. Good form will help you get the most out of your time and help prevent injury.

2. Do all exercises S-L-O-W-L-Y! This will ensure your effort is most effective.

3. Visualize the muscle you are exercising. For example when you are doing bicep curls mentally focus on the bicep muscle.

3 Things to remember when Strength Training

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Progression + Intensity = Results

Progression--Gradually increase intensity (i.e. time, weight, repetitions)

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Advanced Techniques

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Pyramid Technique

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The Pyramid Technique

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-Set #1--Start with a light weight and do a high repetition set of 20 reps or so. Your muscles will be burning. This will hit the Type I endurance muscle fibers and fill the target muscles with blood.

- Set #2--move on to a somewhat heavier weight and aim for about 6 to 10 reps. This will hit the Type IIa muscle fibers (the moderate-to-heavy oriented fibers).

- Set #3--This is your last set and you want to use a slightly heavier weight (or if this is new the same weight as the 2nd set) going for only 4-8 reps or as many as you can do. This will work on strength and connective tissue while focusing on the Type IIb muscle fibers (the very heavy and explosive fibers).

-Set #1--Start with a light weight and do a high repetition set of 20 reps or so. Your muscles will be burning. This will hit the Type I endurance muscle fibers and fill the target muscles with blood.

- Set #2--move on to a somewhat heavier weight and aim for about 6 to 10 reps. This will hit the Type IIa muscle fibers (the moderate-to-heavy oriented fibers).

- Set #3--This is your last set and you want to use a slightly heavier weight (or if this is new the same weight as the 2nd set) going for only 4-8 reps or as many as you can do. This will work on strength and connective tissue while focusing on the Type IIb muscle fibers (the very heavy and explosive fibers).

Pyramid Set--How to do it

It will take a little practice to figure out what weights you'll be using. This is a stimulus your body most likely has not experienced before.The second set of the Pyramid should use about double what you used on the first set, e.g. start with 5 pound dumbells then do 10 pound dumbells (this increase will vary a lot depending on the exercise - experiment with the weights you use to find out what works best for you).The third and final part of the set is the hardest. If you are new at this you can keep the same weight as the 2nd set or slightly increase the weight. When you do the third part, you may feel a strong and deep burning in the muscles. You are tapping muscle fibers that have rarely been worked! Now every fiber you've got has to kick in and Fire Away!

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Another technique to enhance training effectiveness is to increase the length of each exercise set by reducing the resistance upon muscle failure and completing a few additional repetitions. A typical set of strength exercise fatigues fast-twitch muscle fibers but not slow-twitch fibers. By immediately reducing your weight when you can’t do any more reps and performing 2 to 4 more repetitions, the more enduring slow-twitch muscle fibers are pushed to the point of fatigue.

Drop Set or Breakdown Set

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THE PUSH-UP THE PUSH-UP ““DropDrop”” Set SetFirst you do as many regular push ups as possible and then dropping to your knees push out a few more.This challenges the muscles to a new level and pushes more blood into the them as well.

First you do as many regular push ups as possible and then dropping to your knees push out a few more.This challenges the muscles to a new level and pushes more blood into the them as well.

© 2009 DW GROUP, LLC

Drop Set or Breakdown TrainingIn a study on breakdown or Drop set training, all 45 beginner-level participants performed standard Nautilus training for the first month (Westcott, 1994b).During the second month, half of the subjects continued standard training and half of the subjects did breakdown training. That is, upon reaching muscle failure they immediately reduced the weight load by 10 pounds and did between 2 and 4 additional repetitions to reach a second level of muscle failure. The breakdown training group increased their average weight loads by 25 pounds compared to 18 pounds for the standard training group.

Drop Set Training Research

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Positive and Negative Repetitions

Goin’ SloooowwwwThe positive repetition takes place when you lift a weight, the negative is when you lower it. Studies have shown that by emphasizing and slowing the negative the most muscle fibers are engaged. Taking 3-5 seconds to lower the weight will accomplish this. The longer the better up to 20 seconds or so.

Goin’ SloooowwwwThe positive repetition takes place when you lift a weight, the negative is when you lower it. Studies have shown that by emphasizing and slowing the negative the most muscle fibers are engaged. Taking 3-5 seconds to lower the weight will accomplish this. The longer the better up to 20 seconds or so.

Normally we just take one second to lift a weight and one to two to lower it. By emphasizing the negative you will increase the micro tears in your muscles. This causes a higher “recruitment” of muscle fibers and their friends.

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Jumping Jacks--Plyometrics

Jumping Jacks are a great combination of Cardio and Strength Training. Great for legs and a natural way to use Intervals. Go for 30 or so Jacks as an Interval and then recover and repeat.

Now that’s a Workout…

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Let’s Rock and Roll!

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