We have all felt that muscle soreness feeling a day or so after training yet many of us do not know what it is and what impact it is having on our body.
The official term for this muscless soreness is actually "Delayed onset muscle soreness", it is called this because the soreness can occur up to three days after training. The sore feeling that occurs can be local to the area you have trained (the chest after bench pressing for example) or can be felt on multiple muscle groups (back and legs after deadlifts for example).
Scientists previously thought this sore feeling was due to a build up in lactic acid within the muscles that were trained but this theory has been pushed aside by a new theory on muscle soreness. The reason that this theory does not hold and was pushed aside is because lactic acid does not last long in a specific area and disperses not long after exercise.
The new theory is that the muscle soreness a weight trainer (powerlifter or bodybuilder) may feel is due to pushing the body slightly further than the accustomed training levels it is used to. This causes tiny tears in the muscle fibres through something called eccentric contraction.
What is Eccentric Contraction?
When lifting a weight that produces greater force than that of the muscle lifting it (in laymans terms lifting heavy weights you find difficult to lift) the tension causes the muscle to elongate.
What this means is that as you're lifting a weight your muscle is not only lifting the weight. By elongating itself the muscle is acting as a decelerate for the joint so towards the end of your lifting movement the joint is not pulled by the muscle contraction, but rather protected as the muscle controls how you position the weight.
Example: Squat
When you have moved in to the squat position then move to stand up again your muscle elongates towards the end of the movement to compensate for the heavy load you are lifting and act as a decelerate for the joints to stop them being pulled in the direction of the muscle contraction.
When muscles are put under extensive eccentric loading, as caused by weight lifting, small tears occur in the muscle fibres which causes your muscle soreness.
What does this mean to me?
What this means is that the soreness you are feeling is positive as you have pushed your body and now it is going to repair stronger, in essence this is what a weight lifter is trying to achieve. Every time you train you are tearing your muscles slightly and they rebuild stronger.
What this does mean is that you should not train the muscle group that is sore until the soreness subsides as you could overtrain causing a negative impact on the muscle. This means breaking up your training schedule to compensate (train one day, have a day off the next for example).
When you first start weight lifting in the gym you will expect to feel sore for the first few times you train as your muscles gets used to the movements you are doing. Over time you will not feel the soreness as much as the muscles know the movements so will not get delayed onset muscless soreness through eccentric contraction so easily.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Muscle Soreness - Eccentric Contraction
Friday, 25 April 2008
Good High Protein Foods
As mentioned in a previous post protein is a very important part of your nutritional requirements when carrying out any weight lifting exercise in the gym, without good sources of protein in your diet you will not see the gains you want.
Although it is great to know and understand how much protein you need to take in on a daily basis many people do not know what are high protein foods that are good and healthy for their diet.
Many people who are new to training either jump straight on the fatty junk foods like hamburgers and fried chicken which are high protein foods but also high in saturated fats. Some people actually do the opposite and just live of leafy salads with no protein intake at all.
I have collated a short guide to the food types that are high protein foods and still good for any diet because they are also low in saturated fats. Whether you are trying to bulk up, maintain your weight or cut up by shedding those pesky pounds of fat these are the right protein foods for you.
High Protein Foods
(please note these figures are estimated, look at the nutritional labels on the food you buy)
Chicken breast - 100 grams (30 grams of protein)
Turkey - 135 grams (32 grams of protein)
Tuna (Tin) - 170 grams (34.5 grams of protein)
Fillet of Fish (Fresh) - 100 grams (22 grams of protein)
Beef steak - 170 grams (40 grams of protein)
Kidney beans - 125 grams (7 grams of protein)
Butter beans - 125 grams (7 grams of protein)
Flaxseed - 100 grams (18.5 grams of protein)
Nuts - 30 grams (7 to 10 grams of protein)
Ham - 100 grams (17 grams of protein)
Egg - large (6.5 grams of protein)
There are other high protein foods that can really support your diet when weight training, the above is just a small sample of what is on offer. You can always supplement your protein intake with protein shakes or home made protein bars too.
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Powerlifting Vs. Bodybuilding
Many people start off in the gym and say they are training, weight lifting, getting fit, but how many of you want to progress further?
Quite a few I imagine yet I bet 90% have heard phrases such as "I am a power lifter" or "I am a body builder" yet do not know the difference between power lifting and bodybuilding.
It's interesting to note that if I was to take a powerlifter and a bodybuilder and we compared them you would notice quite a huge difference. The reason for this is because of how they train their bodies.
An example is that you could take a bodybuilder who is say 186 centimetres in height with a weight of 250lbs (113kg) against a powerlifter who is 180 centimetres in height with a weight of only 190lbs (86kgs) , the powerlifter will more than likely be able to lift more than the bodybuilder.
What is Powerlifting
Powerlifting is all about seeing how much weight you can lift with the more you can lift the better, this is determined by the one rep max (the total weight that a person can lift with one repetition). As a powerlifter is interested in the weight they can lift they are not bothered about their body size or the weight they are because this is not their goal.
To make huge strength gains powerlifters only carry out up to six reps on each exercise they do, the reason for this is that the muscle is fatigued and broken down without the blood flow in to it, this makes the body to change so it can be stronger and withstand the weight it is being asked to lift.
Powerlifting centres around three exercises, these are the deadlift, bench press and the squat. The reason these are the main exercises in powerlifting is because they are all compound exercises that use a combination of muscle groups and joints in the movement.
Bodybuilding is all about getting big and sculpting the body to look like an adonis, a bodybuilders goal is to be as big as possible and as defined as they possibly can. To become so big and defined a bodybuilder has to work over a long period of time and really watch what they eat. You would generally see a bodybuilder having a much lower body fat percentage than a powerlifter.
Bodybuilders work on lifting between eight and twelve repetitions for each exercise they carry out, this is because this is the optimum amount of repetitions for blood flow in to the muscle giving the nutrients the muscles need to grow.
Bodybuilding combines compound exercises with isolation exercises as the bodybuilder wants to be able to increase their strength while also being able to target certain muscles so they can sculpt their body how they want.
Ronnie Coleman - Bodybuilder
Summary
What you need to decide is which of these training styles interest you. Do you want to get big and look great on the beach or do you want to be like a super hero and lift a scary amount of weight?
The decision is up to you!
