Mark Wahlberg is Absolutely Shredded in his Latest Instagram Post
https://ift.tt/2Zv2aP4 Mark Wahlberg is undoubtedly one of the fittest men in Hollywood, but from the look of his recent Instagram posts, he’s getting more shredded by the day. Marky Mark has been doing the F45 Challenge—an eight-week program from F45 Training that combines meal planning and six 45-minute HIIT sessions per week to help people achieve their bodyweight goals. Earlier this year, Wahlberg bought a minority stake in the global fitness franchise that began in Australia, and he’s clearly gotten a return on his investment in more ways than one. Just take a look at the 48-year-old actor here:
In his post, Wahlberg reminds us that “#ageisjustanumber,” and that you can be crazy fit no matter how old you are. He also notes that he hasn’t had wine in 54 days (poor guy). He received plenty of love for the photo—including from actor Mario Lopez, who commented, “Show em what fellas in their 40’s are all about.” But the comment that caught our eye came from fellow fitness freak and New Englander Tom Brady. “We are looking for some skill players,” the six-time Super Bowl champion commented. Whalberg, who played a Philadelphia Eagles quarterback in the movie Invincible, said he’s willing to ship up to Boston. “@tombrady let coach know I’m coming for that spot!” Watching him catch Hail Mary passes from Brady would be quite a sight. Rob Deutsch, founder of F45 Training, also dropped some appreciation on the post. “Holy Moly!!!!! Marky baby,” he commented, along with plenty of muscle emojis. If the actor’s abs aren’t enough inspiration for you to get off your butt and into the gym, his Instagram offers an endless supply of workout routines and photos. For extra dedication points, try starting your days before the crack of dawn like he does.
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz August 26, 2019 at 11:14AM
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7 Steps to Barbell Etiquette
https://ift.tt/2MCeNSf The gym is just like a classroom or an office—there are important rules you need to follow in order to keep everyone safe and to ensure it runs efficiently. Rules are also there to stop you from looking like a rookie in the gym who isn’t sure what’s going on.
This is especially true when it comes to the barbell.
If you’re doing any of the following, chances are you look a bit like a rookie (bless your heart), and might also be causing a ruckus by putting yourself or another lifter in danger. Or at the very least, you’re probably mildly annoying those lifting around you.
1. Plates On Plates On PlatesAre you the person who has a barbell loaded with a set of 15lb plates, two sets of 10s, three sets of 5s and 2 sets of 2.5s? Not only are you hogging all the small plates in the gym, but you also look a little ignorant.
Here’s the rule: If you can put on a larger denomination of plates, do so. In the latter case, you have 50lb on the bar, so you should replace the 15s and 10s and 5s with one set of 45lb plates, and then finish off with a set of 2.5s.
2. You Don't Step Up to The BarThis might be my biggest pet peeve as a coach. Are you the athlete who bends down to do a deadlift or a clean before you have stepped up to the bar? If you don't approach the bar properly, then you have to pull the bar towards you while you're all bent and hunched over—and then you automatically end up out of position before you even start the lift.
Instead, step up to the bar until your shins are touching the bar and then take a breath before hinging on down in a perfect position to set up for your lift. Not only will you be in a better position, but you’ll look a little bit more bad ass. Almost like you know what you’re doing.
3. You Drop StuffThree things that should never be dropped:
Not only is it hard on the equipment, but it’s also loud and obnoxious when you drop a barbell full of steel.
4. You Ignore Your SurroundingsIf your gym has platforms, you probably know not to stand on the platform when someone else is lifting. But if you don’t have platforms, it’s less obvious how far away you need to be, so I often see people walk right in front or right behind someone who is setting up for a lift, putting you both at risk for a human on human, or human on barbell collision.
Bottom line: Be aware of your surroundings and be deliberate about the space you give others when they have a barbell in their hands.
5. Improper Barbell UnloadingNothing says I’m oblivious to barbell etiquette more than letting your barbell smash to the ground as you aggressively strip the 45lb plate from it. Instead, place a hand on the barbell and lower it to the floor nicely as you strip the weight.
6. You Don't Ask For a SpotterIf you’re even remotely close to potentially failing the lift don’t be shy, ask for a spotter.
This rule especially applies to the bench press. If you’re comfortable ditching the bar off your back during a back squat, then just make extra sure you have tons of space behind you.
7. You Don't Respect the ProgrammingIf you’re following a program that prescribed percentages, respect the exact percentages programmed for you each day.
There’s probably a reason for them, even if they seem too light. Don’t just go heavier because you think you know better, or round up or down on your weight because you’re too lazy to take the time to change the weights to adhere to the percentages.
You Have to Follow the RulesThe saying "rules are meant to be broken" isn’t the case when it comes to the barbell. Broken rules can lead to broken bodies in this setting, or at the very least lead to rookie mistakes that will subject you to mocking.
Fitness via Breaking Muscle https://ift.tt/1hdUh1E August 26, 2019 at 09:14AM
How to Value Your Health
https://ift.tt/2TZNCBC We love to vaguely allude to values in day-to-day conversation. Values are a convenient, socially respected concept and any reference to them adds weight to our words. More than likely your company has core values plastered on the wall with lofty important terms like: Respect, Integrity, and Synergy (whatever that means). These make their way into company newsletters and annual meetings, but do they make their way into people’s perceptions, beliefs, and actions?
You, like your corporate overlords, have many values driving your decisions and behaviors, but they probably aren’t what you think they are. If you want to understand why fitness doesn’t last for most people and how to solve this issue, you have to start with people’s real values.
Values often get confused with an ethical code. Ideally, your values would overlap almost entirely with the behaviors you find most moral, but these two concepts are still separate. What you value is simply what you prefer. For example, I prefer a good night’s sleep over staying up late drinking. Consequently, my social activities tend to happen earlier. I put my phone up before 7:30 and I’m in bed reading before nine every night. Yet, despite my respect for sleep, I value my daughter’s survival and healthy development more. It is higher up on the preference hierarchy. When she was an infant sleeping sporadically through the night, I didn’t think twice about getting up to feed her at 1am because I valued her nourishment more than my sleep.
As you mature, your values can grow complex enough to prefer more nuanced, long-term concepts. For example, I prefer the health, vitality, confidence, and sense of natural harmony I get from eating plants with every meal over the pleasure of eating donuts or other sweets. It certainly wasn’t always this way. My two-year-old son only thinks of the intense pleasure he gets from cookies. Yet, I truly prefer a shrimp salad to a cookie. Sure at the immediate level, it would feel better to have ice cream at every meal, but these immature notions are completely absent from my day to day decisions. I’ve internalized more mature value structures from my years of good influences, self-work, and training.
Perception drives our values—this is crucial. What we prefer is based entirely on the outcomes we associate with any given course of action. We identify actions with very simple feelings and ideas. When I abstain from eating sweets at work, I’m abstaining from being someone I don’t want to be. I have a strong emotional aversion to the idea of becoming less. I’m not deciding not to eat a cookie, I’m deciding not to be impulsive, out of control, unhealthy, and irresponsible (at least in my head). I’m deciding not to trade my dreams for momentary comfort. For me, it’s as simple a value decision as choosing not to mainline heroin. Not that the two are comparable, but at the emotional level, there is no difference.
That doesn’t mean I don’t ever enjoy a good cookie. But, I won’t have cookies often and when I do it will always be at a time I’ve planned in advance to deviate from my normal patterns. I actually have a system for allowing spontaneity as well, but suffice it to say most days I don’t eat added sugars and I much prefer it this way.
By not eating a cookie offered at a staff meeting, I perceive myself as choosing empowerment and emotional control. Someone else doing the same thing might tell themselves a very different story. They’ll obsess on how they feel deprived, angry, and afraid that they have to live this life of self-denial forever—that this path is completely different from the life they were promised through the first 20, 30, or even 50 years of their life. They’ll feel a completely different set of emotions than I do. I used to feel the same way.
Values tend to dictate most long-term action. If you work out every day it will be because you value all the benefits that exercise gives you over the comfort of not moving. Even that random day where you decide you just aren’t feeling it and you’re going to skip the gym is a complex value decision. There is a combination of some level of willpower fatigue mixed with social pressure and various other factors that leads you to value exercise less than comfort. You may value exercise over comfort before lunch, but after lunch, your willpower tends to be sapped comparable to the energy it takes to get moving. The scales tip in favor of preferring immediate comfort over any long term benefit.
Our preference hierarchies are as fluid as we are and that is the danger of breaking good patterns. Each time we break our own rules, we subconsciously give ourselves permission to do it again. Productive values don’t just happen. They are built. You can look at your life and scheme good values, but life is complex and emotions are powerful. More than anything, your values are shaped by your perception and your perceptions change with your education and experience. Thus, good actions tend to beget good actions while bad leads to bad. We quickly fall into patterns.
Construct More Productive ValuesIf we want to construct more productive values it can be helpful to go the traditional route:
This is a worthwhile process that should ideally become less structured and more of a natural extension of how you look at the world and reflect. Yet, it is also quite limited. We can’t logic our way into changing perceptions and we can’t plan for all the complexities of daily life. Real change follows taking the right actions. The most fruitful value changes follow consistent actions, transformative experiences, and social support. Finding a sub-culture where good values are common is a great way to go. Great gyms support people not only to work out, but in sharing recipes and building friendships where people see what works for others and support each other’s efforts.
The simplest path to change your values is to adopt the three core habits I outlined in my free ebook, The Essential Guide to Self-Mastery. By hacking your habits, you can program yourself to act consistently. These core habits are the most impactful and consistent actions you can adopt to change perception, values, confidence, and future action.
The first habit is daily exercise. I actually don’t recommend starting with a long exercise practice, unless you already enjoy that. To begin, just adopt a daily movement practice. But don’t stop there. Like daily physical exercise, we should also train our emotional intelligence daily. The next core habit is meditation and gratitude. These have a way of changing our thoughts and how we perceive the thoughts that come through our brain.
The final habit may be the most important because it allows us to adapt, change, and grow forever. This is called "feeding the right wolf," or in normal terms, daily nourishing education. Education gives us the opportunity to dig deeper and understand the principles that underlie our own development. When we copy methods there is always something lost in the translation, but by mastering principles, we develop the tools to adapt.
Today there are so many avenues for great self-education, but there is far more trash. If we don’t curate the messages we bring in, then we’ll be shuffled aimlessly along a path of clickbait, confirmation bias, and distraction. We’ll be programmed for unrewarding values.
The 30x30 ChallengeEven more, education is most effective when it is structured and consistent. You could go through the IHD online course catalog or look to begin taking classes to learn a skill that you’ve always wanted to master. Still, the best way to dig into these three core habits is to sign up for the IHD 30x30 Challenge. We have built a 30-day program that features exercise, education, meditation, and gratitude conveniently packaged in a 30 minute dose.
My partner at IHD, Justin Lind, and I have spent the better part of the last six months building and obsessing over this program. It was one thing for us to profess a need for the three core habits, but we knew we needed a program to take people through these. The 30x30 Challenge not only packages all three core habits in one 30-minute dose, but it builds lessons in a structured manner to help embed the principles behind action and gradually shift your perceptions about life and purpose. Self-development becomes most sustainable when it is driven by a broader concept of personal mission and purpose. By the end of these 30 days, you’ll have just that.
The program will be available September 15th, but if you get on the list now you can reserve the pre-sale discount. To learn more head to the 30x30 Challenge page and see how you can make self-development a part of your daily life.
Fitness via Breaking Muscle https://ift.tt/1hdUh1E August 25, 2019 at 09:46AM
Certain Exercises Combat 'Obesity Genes' More Than Others, New Study Finds
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A new study has shed some light on a selection of exercises that may help people whoinherited genes that increase their chance of obesity. It's a no-brainer that regular exercise plays a key part in a person's overall fitness level. But for some, it can be frustrating to figure out the best ways to shed extra pounds. For those who are more likely to become obese due to their genetics, it can be especially tough. Fortunately, a study from National Taiwan University seemed to provide some clarity on the issue. In the study, which was published in the Public Library of Science and included data from 18,424 Han Chinese adults between the ages of 30 and 70, author Wan-Yu Lin and her colleagues looked at the interactions between the participants' genetics and their self-reported workout regimens. They considered five measures of obesity, including BMI, body fat percentages, and waist-to-hip ratios. According to the research, regular jogging was the best exercise method for managing obesity in people predisposed to the condition. Runners-up included mountain climbing, walking, power walking, dancing, and long yoga practices. If you're wondering what not to do to lose weight, cycling, stretching, swimming, and Dance Dance Revolution didn't seem to counteract the genetic predisposition to obesity in this particular population. That doesn't necessarily mean these exercises won't work for you, but the list of more effective exercise methods could be a good place to start for people having issues with weight management. Either way, the takeaway of the study is that genetics aren't insurmountable when it comes to getting fitter. [RELATED1]
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz August 23, 2019 at 04:00PM
The 12-Step Plan for Carb-Loading to Look More Muscular
https://ift.tt/2NrANyR Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz August 23, 2019 at 03:04PM
This Swedish Couple Works Out With Their Dogs—But You Shouldn't Try It at Home
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Everyone enjoys a good workout partner—but most don’t have four legs. Swedish couple Oona and Antti, however, have no problem incorporating their furry friends into their exercises. The two regularly post videos of their workouts with their three goldendoodles—Fabbe, Nisse, and Pippi— on their Instagram, @fabulous_doodle. We’ll be honest: For the most part, the posts are pretty adorable. There’s plenty of clips of them smooching their dogs while doing dips, or shaking paws while planking. Some, though, show the couple lunging with the pups in hand or squatting with them on their backs. Perhaps we're being a bit too ruff, but this doesn't seem like a good idea. Check out the workout routine here:
Again, this may look cute, but we can’t really recommend that anyone try this at home. For one, there’s the dog’s health to worry about. Golden doodles are genetically susceptible to many knee and hip problems, and a fall would only exacerbate those issues. Not only that, but you could get injured if the dog makes a sudden movement. We’re sure Oona and Antti know what they’re doing, but dogs are not iron plates, and they can easily jerk around during an exercise. One wrong move, and the dog can fall to the ground. There’s also the fact that a standard adult goldendoodle can weigh as much as 100 pounds—lightweight for most gym-goers, but still a considerable task on your back. Oona and Antti acknowledge that not all dogs like to be lifted, but claim theirs love to be incorporated into the workouts and that it strengthens their bond as a family. That may or may not be true, but in our opinions, this still isn’t something you should try at home. Man’s best friend, however, does make a great jogging partner—so feel free to bring your pup along during your next cardio session. While we can’t wholly endorse this workout regimen, we also can’t deny the cuteness of these dogs. If you want to see more, follow the couple on Instagram. [RELATED1]
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz August 23, 2019 at 01:31PM
WWE Stars Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins are Engaged
https://ift.tt/2PczCG1 WWE Superstars and championship-duo Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins are now engaged, only months after their relationship became public. Lynch and Rollins, the WWE Universal Champion and half of the Raw Tag Team Champions alongside Braun Strowman, were reportedly on vacation when he popped the question. The WWE Raw Women’s Champion took to social media to show off the diamond she’ll be carrying around with her gold. Check it out here:
Hardcore wrestling fans have suspected for some time that the two were seeing each other, but they only went pubic with their relationship in May. The WWE quickly capitalized on their love and booked the couple in a TV storyline culminating in them defending both their belts in a mixed-tag team match at Extreme Rules. Since then, they've been seen sparingly on TV together, but we have to believe Vince McMahon is drawing up some sort of plan to make money off this. The WWE issued a brief statement on the engagement, saying, “WWE is thrilled to congratulate Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch on the news of their engagement.” Wrestling podcast host David LaGreca suggested they get married in a ring, à la Randy Savage and Elizabeth. We certainly wouldn’t be opposed to that. Congratulations to the happy couple!
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz August 23, 2019 at 09:50AM
Top 5 Supportive Exercises to Boost Your Bench Press
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The Two Basic Rules For Training Huge Hamstrings Routine
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As a hardgainer, hanging hamstrings are probably near the bottom of your wishlist. In a contest, vertical-blind lines in a rear shot or half-basketballs from the side can make the difference between first and fourth, but those not planning to pose in public typically focus much more on arms, chest, or even quads. Leg curling comes almost as an afterthought. Get with the program. Your hams are much larger than, for example, your biceps, and building additions to this area fills out your legs, maintains a strength balance with your quads (thus preventing injuries) and, because of their relative size, packs on lean pounds faster than some showier parts. Our huge hamstring workout gives this crucial bodypart the stimulus it needs to maximize your mass appeal. RULE 1: GIVE EACH BODYPART A WORKOUT Part of the reason hamstrings don’t receive the respect they deserve from noncompetitive bodybuilders is they’re typically tossed into a “leg workout.” This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t train hams with quads. Indeed, this program prescribes just such a pairing. However, you need to think of each bodypart as having its own workout. This may be merely a semantic discrepancy, but it can make a great difference in your approach. Too often, trainers simply tack on a few lazy sets of leg curls after a grueling barrage of squats and leg presses. Likewise, as part of shoulder training, they’ll pitch in some shrugging after destroying delts, and, at the end of an arm workout, they’ll warm down with a couple sets of wrist curls. The focus and intensity will invariably be greater if you give hamstrings, trapezius, and forearms their own workouts, making them the center of attention during the corresponding exercises, and not merely a part of a greater whole. RULE 2: EMBRACE SYNERGISM This may seem to contradict rule One, but it's actually complementary. You should provide each bodypart with its own individual workout, but always remain aware that most bodyparts are trained to a lesser degree with others. For example, hamstrings will get some work during squats and leg presses for quads, as well as during deadlifts for back. As another example, triceps will be stressed during pressing movements for both chest and shoulders. Generally speaking, the sort of compound lifts that involve two or more bodyparts are the best mass-gainers and thus they play pivotal roles in this routine. Although your focus should remain on the primary target muscles during compound lifts, be aware of the secondary muscles. As you will discover, sometimes you may want to reduce the secondary involvement, via techniques like pre-exhaust or lockout avoidance, and yet, even then, secondary muscles will provide support. Embrace it, for this sort of synergy boosts growth and overall strength. [RELATED2] THE EXERCISES ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS In Romanian deadlifts, the bar is lowered and raised against your legs and not in front (as in stiff-leg deadlifts) and you maintain the arch in your back throughout the lift. It focuses more on the hamstrings and glutes; the stiff-leg deadlift works the spinal erectors more.
Variation: You can also perform this exercise with dumbbells, keeping the weights on the sides of your legs throughout each rep. Alternately, you can do Romanian deadlifts with dumbbells one leg at a time, either balancing on one foot or, if that’s too awkward, bending the nonworking leg behind you and resting its foot on a bench. LYING LEG CURLS This movement focuses more on the biceps femoris (outer hamstring).
Variation: Do the positive half of the rep (raising the weight) with both legs, but do the negative half (lowering the weight) with one leg, resisting in order to lower the weight twice as slowly as you raised it. Because you’re stronger during the negative action, this is an excellent way to get the most out of both halves of your reps. Alternate legs each rep or do all the negative reps of a set with one leg, then the next set switch to the other leg and the final set use both legs. SEATED LEG CURLS This exercise focuses more on the semitendinosus and semimembranosus (inner hamstrings).
Variation: At least every third work- out, do a unilateral (one side at a time) leg curl to guard against strength/size imbalances. You can do seated leg curls unilaterally, or, if your gym has the appropriate machine, substitute standing one-leg curls every third workout, doing all 10-12 reps in a set for one rear leg and then switching to the other side. [RELATED1]
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz August 22, 2019 at 01:42PM
5 Common Rowing Mistakes
https://ift.tt/341eqX0 The rowing machine looks simple and less intimidating than others—a machine anyone can use—and it is.
As a former university rower, I’ll admit it’s one of the easier sports to pick up, as there’s literally just one skill involved. And while on-the-water rowing is definitely more complex, the Concept2 ergometer (rowing machine) literally gets you doing the same thing over and over again.
Though simple in theory, if you haven’t been taught the one skill (the rowing stroke) properly, it’s easy to butcher it and make all sorts of crazy mistakes. Truth be told, when I walk into a gym and see someone rowing, nine times out of 10 I have to stop myself from cringing.
Rowing BasicsBefore I get into the five most common mistakes I see on a daily basis, let’s get some simple terminology down:
Ok, now to the common mistakes.
1. Bending Your Knees Too Early on the RecoveryThe first thing that should happen when you reach the finish is your hands and arms should move back to the position they came from, and then your body should follow by swinging your body until your shoulders are back in front of your hips. Often, though, I see people bending their knees before their arms or body swings forward. What ends up happening then is the handle hits your knees as you continue to move back to the catch, stopping the handle from moving in a linear way, which is what we want.
Often when I tell people to correct this, they shoot their arms out too fast as they’re in a rush to clear their knees. Don’t be in a rush. Hold your knees straight as you straighten out your arms at the same speed you pulled into your chest. And then wait for your body to swing forward, and then start bending your knees to make your way back to the catch.
Check out the video where the first three strokes are done incorrectly, and the next three strokes are done correctly.
2. Rushing the RecoveryUsually, people speed up the recovery as they get closer to the catch, which is the exact opposite of what you want (in rowing, we call it rushing the top quarter of the slide).
Your recovery should actually slow down as you move back into the catch. As you’re getting closer to the catch, almost think about consciously resisting the urge to speed up by using your hamstrings to control the stroke rate.
3. Pausing At the FinishThis might actually be the most common mistake.
People want to catch their breath, so they pause for a second or two at the finish. This essentially stops the boat (or in this case the machine), causing your power to drop significantly.
Instead, as soon as you pull your hands to your chest, start moving them back out again at the same speed they came in.
4. High Stroke RateRowing is all about efficiency. Just because you're stroking at a high rate, like 32 strokes per minute, doesn't mean you’re moving the boat fast. The best rowers know how to row with a lot of power at a low stroke rate (i.e. efficiency in action).
For the purposes of a novice rower, as a general rule, the only time you should ever be stroking at 32-plus strokes per minute is if you’re going for a 500-meter all-out sprint.
For a novice rower, I would generally recommend doing a 2km piece at around a 28 strokes per minute (max 30), and a 5km piece at around a 26. Similarly, if you’re rowing in a multi-modal conditioning workout (let's say 3 rounds of a 500 meter row, 25 walls balls, and 15 burpees) try to keep your stroke rate between a 24 and a 26.
Eventually, as you become more proficient, you will be able to row at a higher stroke rate, but it’s important to learn to row well at a lower stroke rate first.
5. Early Arm BendAs you drive from the catch, your arms should stay straight until after you have cleared your knees with the handle and you’re about to change your back angle and start leaning back. If you can see or feel that your arms are bent before or as you pass your knees with the handle, you know you’re bending too soon.
One final mistake is simply not having a clue how to pace yourself for a 500-meter row versus a 2km row or a 5km row, but that’s its own article.
Fitness via Breaking Muscle https://ift.tt/1hdUh1E August 22, 2019 at 11:57AM |
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