THE BENCH PRESS (400 words)

This is the best ever chest exercise known to man. It’s extremely simple to execute and yet is mighty effective. Let me set out on a short description of the press.

The movement is thus: Lie on the bench with the bar held above your chest-elbows locked, lower the bar slowly, with elbows bending, onto your chest (but not resting on it) and then press it out to the highest possible position. But a few aspects need a mention here.

First of all the legs need to be firmly on the ground as they provide stability (some builders, however, place their legs on the bench to isolate and work their pectorals).

The grip on the bar should be such that the forearms at their lowest position (when the bar is closest to the chest) must ideally be perpendicular to the ground (a closer grip, one that makes an acute angle, is a workout for the triceps).

The bar should be pushed straight up, neither forward nor backward.

Inhale during the lowering (eccentric) and exhale while pressing out (concentric). Never hold your breath.

Benching the power lifter’s way: This is a force multiplier technique aimed at utilizing the strength of anterior deltoids, latissimus dorsi and also the legs; as power lifting is all about a single ultra heavy lift.
The back must be arched on the bench.Only the shoulder (and the neck and head) along with the hips must be in contact with the bench. The legs should be planted firmly on the ground and the thighs tensed to maintain the arch, which tends to flatten out during the press. The hips must, at all times, be in contact with the bench. An unhooked thumb grip may be used.

The bench press may be executed with a barbell, dumbbells or on the machine, but the bar is the ultimate in strength training. A spotter is a must for form correction and/or support. Activation of the body is necessary for a power lifting approach to the press. A minimum of 3 sets (with no set exceeding 10 reps) may be performed for muscle growth.

Variations include press on an inclined or a declined bench to train the upper and the lower chest respectively.

• Primary effect on: Pectoralis Major
• Secondary effect on (also the synergists): Triceps, Serratus anterior, Anterior deltoids, Latissimus dorsi
• Stabilizers: Erector spinae (lower back), legs

A FEW TERMS & DEFINITIONS (177 words)

A prelude to my detailing of compound exercises (& workouts) is an introduction to a few terms that will aid my expressions. That muscles can ONLY CONTRACT is in erudite acceptance. But how do they return to their natural relaxed states…

1. AGONIST: is the muscle (or a group of muscle) that brings about a desired motion through its contraction.
2. ANTAGONIST: is the muscle (or a group of muscle) that opposes the agonist driven motion or to be less controversial, it only works to bring back the agonist to its relaxed state.

The working of biceps and triceps is a classic example of the above.

3. STABILISER: is generally the group of muscle that tenses to accord stability. As an illustration, a pillion rider is stabilized during the acceleration of the bike by the abdomen and during the braking or retardation by the back.
   

4. SYNERGIST: is a muscle (or a group of muscle) that enhances the power output of the active muscle. As an example, strong forearms may differentiate between two equally powered bicep curls.

DO WEIGHTS STUNT GROWTH (408 words)

I shall desist from a sweeping answer to this, simply because there isn’t any. I shall, at this juncture, postulate the concept of UNDERSTAND YOUR BODY, a powerful concept that’ll see you through your various somatic and medical dilemmas.

Weight training, per say, isn’t an altitude oriented sport like basketball or swimming. Handling weights, apart from brute force, requires, as a part of technique, stability. Stability can be attained by lowering the centre of gravity (C.G.) of the lifter. This is done by acquiring a position of reduced stature. Tarry! Before you drift to conclusions, read on. Various scholarly studies on Olympic Weight lifters have suggested that taller athletes lift heavier weights! (With the advantage evening out at heights >=183 cm).

Basic to all these is your genes and the play of hormones, or in general, YOUR BODY. It is a medical belief that one cannot grow taller after the joints have fused. This can be determined from the X-Rays of the wrists and elbows.

Killer workouts involving free weights will effect a surge of hormones in the male body. Chief among them is testosterone and the human growth hormone. The incredible powers of these two monsters of youth need no explanation. Apart from these is what your DNA dictates. Thus, at this stage, it should be apparent to my readers that growth, although it may appear so, can never be unidimensional.

Extremely tall strength athletes, wrestlers along with the myths and folklores of warriors, too strong and tall, should tell you the truth. Besides, of what use is height without the necessary strength?

All said and done, when is the right age to take up weights? Now I make the maximum use of my concept stated previously. It should be understood that weights place a strain on your joints. They tend to make your body grow laterally than vertically. Thus, at a tender age, weights tend to create a negative environment for height gain. And most importantly, the body must be in production of the necessary hormones. This can happen at different ages in different individuals. Hence, you are the best judge of when your body is ready and whether or not weights is the form of exercise your body needs in the first place.

But if you see yourself as the next Mr. Olympia, then, ‘high achievers start early’.

In conclusion, my reply (and not an answer) to the question is “JUST SHUT UP AND SQUAT”.

THE TRIPOD OF PHYSICAL FITNESS-FLEXIBILITY, CARDIOVASCULAR & STRENGTH TRAINING-AN INITIATION (314 words)

All possible human dynamics are invariably a combination of appendage flexibility, cardiovascular health and muscular strength. Every step we take, every move we make is due to these three stunning evolutionary attributes of higher life forms. And thus, any mode of training aimed at improving one’s physical fitness is tantamount to the incorporation of the three titular principles in its regime.

Flexibility is quite simply the suppleness of joints. It can also be interpreted as the maximum strain the joints can be put through until damage. Ostensibly, flexibility reduces with age and women are genetically more flexible (well, only when it comes to their joints and not otherwise). Practice of light warm-ups succeeded by soft stretching before the actual training maintains flexibility and reduces the incidence of injuries.

Enhanced flexibility, though, is exhibited by practitioners of Hathayoga (as propounded by Patanjali in his Yogashastra; with the ultimate stage of yoga being the unification of the soul with the divine—the atma with the param atma—or the Samadhi).

It is no secret that the various organs of our body are kept operational through the supply of essential nutrients by blood. It also requires no Platonian intellect to understand that a well supplied organ is functionally optimized. And cardiovascular training keeps the cardiac and the pulmonary muscles along with the circulatory framework in the pink.

Some of the popular circulation training methods are swimming, cycling, aerobics and our good old running.

Muscles are the load bearing structures of our bodily architecture. Basic muscular strength is inevitable to our corporal existence and is congenital to every individual. Attainment of improved muscular power, however, is subject to need, genetics and resources and of course interest.

Any physical movement yields or at the least maintains muscular strength. But weight training has emerged as the strength training method of choice and this will be taken up in later posts.

DEMYSTIFYING WEIGHT TRAINING (335 words)

Muscles are perhaps the only tissue that can grow in size throughout the life span, albeit, subject to need (and of course nourishment) as sensed by the existence of external stimulus. This is the underlying principle of weight training. As is evident, the cross sectional area of the muscle mass (with the length being assumed constant in persons of similar height) is the direct measure of strength.

Muscular mass is built this way: the body is staggered and the nervous system stunned through the application of overwhelming and yet liftable weights. This will result in a series of neuro—muscular adaptations that ends with an increased muscle mass, which, as the body understands, was needed for those unbearable weights. Thus the load/resistance and the training intensity are maintained or increased according to the needs of the specific sport or that of the person.

Hypertrophy is the excessive increase in the size of an organ or in general of the body. This takes place due to increase in muscular cell size. Weight training, apart from the Pamela Anderson way, helps to accomplish healthy, useful and attractive body bulk. Advanced weight trainers may witness condition known as hyperplasia, which is the progressive bulk exhibited by a bodily organ (or tissue) due to increase in the number of cells. This active and renewed cell division may be due to the enhanced demand that is placed on them.

Weight training is as destructive as it is effective. Weights yield astounding results and cause debilitating pain as well. Those who are in their forties and beyond and people who only wish to maintain a routine of meaningful exercises must desist from progressive loading. Weight training only teaches you to use your (skeletal) muscles. For this to happen, no weight should be so light so as to allow more than 8-10 repetitions on a particular movement.

Able bodied young men taking up weights must, however, push the limits and graduate to the advanced training forms of Bodybuilding, Power lifting and Weightlifting.

BODYBUILDING, POWER LIFTING & WEIGHTLIFTING (440 words)

Every child’s first ambition is to be a pilot and the very next is to be a bodybuilder. But the imbecile innocence of his gullible existence masks him from the sharp furrows that cut across the extreme forms of weight training viz. bodybuilding, power lifting & weight lifting.

Bodybuilding is a glamorous, looks oriented practise and by far the beguiling façade to the discipline of weight training. This was popularized, in its nascence, by the likes of Eugene Sandow and “Purgy” (first women builder of repute). And was later revolutionized by little known folks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Tom Platz (the King of Squat), Ronnie Coleman and et. al.

Bodybuilding, essentially builds looks and the associated strength is only a by-product! Shocking but true. Bodybuilding brings about palpably pellucid spatial proportions, adoringly envious muscular bulk and ignorantly attained pervasive power. The thrust of bodybuilding is to attain Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy—the bulging of the plasma of the muscle fibre cells due to a sudden influx of blood—which is best observed immediately after a strenuous workout. Sarcomere hypertrophy—which is the thickening of the muscle fibres itself—takes longer to build and is long lasting. Basic muscular mass can be built only through sarcomere hypertrophy, which the bodybuilders understand, and is built through fundamental power lifting principles. The built mass is then, in the run-up to contests, is enlarged and/or proportionated through the sarcoplasmic approach. This is achieved through well honed techniques like super-sets, mega-sets and so on. Bodybuilding is also known for its peculiar destructive feature of burning up “excessive” muscle fibres through targeted overtraining to attain that picture perfect proportionate shape.

Power lifting is the underlying method to build extreme muscular bulk and power. Power lifting is all about the measure of weights that you lift. Power lifters, unlike bodybuilders, are always high on carbohydrates (and of course proteins) and are not deterred by the increase of non—contractile tissue in their body. Power lifters, though, compete only on the following three movements: the Bench Press, the Squat and the Dead lift. Power lifting, unlike weightlifting, suffers from the blatant lack of standards and raging disagreements over the validity of lifts. Each national federation has its own finer nuances over the lifts, which has, unfortunately, prevented this magnificent training tenet from attaining the status of an Olympic sport.

Weightlifting, on the other hand, is a highly specialized and standardized sport, that involves just the two movements: the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk. The training procedures are mainly lifting parts oriented (thighs, back, shoulders…), but the body as a whole, like in every other sport, is trained for the kill.

WORKING OUT THE RIGHT WAY (190 words)

Before I reach to the brass tacks and start off with the nuts and bolts of targeted exercises, I have this to say. Weight training, these days, is well formulated and actively researched. And faulty technique is sacrilege. Poor technique, as the training resistance progresses, can be tormenting; to the joints as well to the muscles.

This apart, technique correction can be despairing. Any movement practiced once is bound to be repeated the same way the next time. After a while, with increased loading, muscle memory is built up. Continued ignorant progress on weights, will build up Motor Nervous Memory which in turn, over time, becomes a reflex. At advanced stages one cannot train on reduced weights. At such stages, even on learning the proper technique, the body, on being pushed to heavier weights, will resort to the faulty lifting techniques that have been imbibed and now reside as reflexes.

Thus it’s imperative to begin with the proper technique—which can only be taught by a competent person and cannot be picked up by reading blogs or watching CDs.

However, reading makes you aware and knowledgeable. And knowledge is power.

A NOTE TO MY READERS

At the outset, I wish to inform my readers that I’m neither a hefty hulk nor a doctorate in any of the sport sciences. I’m writing with the intention of spreading awareness and want my blog to act as a quick reference to those interested.

The principles and regimens discussed are not moulds from the furnace of scientific scrutiny.

My blog is based on the philosophy of Learn with the Learner.