Blue Star Fitness Blog

Challenging muscle to create positive physical change

What exercise is the best to lose fat in my arms or legs? What should I do to get rid of this pooch pouch? I workout for 2 hours everyday and I still am not losing weight, why is that?

Do any of these questions sound familiar?

We have found what works and the answer is SYNERGY!

In order for anyone to achieve Optimal Results there has to be a balance or a SYNERGY involved with your approach to becoming fit and healthy. The combination of the right nutrition, moderate aerobic exercise and a concern for muscle is the foundation of SYNERGY. This method will work for everyone from an elite athlete to an inactive sedentary person.

As American citizens we have the luxury of free enterprise and the right to free speech. Advertisers have taken full advantage of these freedoms by either stretching the truth or blatantly lying in order to convince us that their product is the best. They have gotten so adept at manipulating the public’s belief that no one really knows what to do or where to begin in order to produce a positive change in their bodies. There are literally thousands of books, magazines and videos that all preach a different message. The reality is the only true way to change your body positively is SYNERGY!

When we discuss a concern for muscle, we notice that many people are not challenging their muscles on a consistent basis, even if they work out all the time. When it comes to exercise and making a positive physical change, the key is to constantly challenge your body as well as your muscles. The human body is a machine like no other, mainly because as it changes it also adapts to whatever stimulus is put before it. This means that if you repeat movements or exercises your body will adapt to whatever you are doing making it easier to perform.

It takes about 2 weeks for your body to respond positively to a regular exercise routine. If you are exercising on a regular basis (3-5 times per week) and are using the same workout routine with the same amount of weight, your body adapts to your routine and stops moving towards a positive change in about 3 weeks. This is known as the dreaded exercise plateau. The body is telling you that it is ready for a new challenge. Without a constant challenge, the body has no reason to change in a positive way which will keep you from the results you are looking for.

When you are doing resistance training you want to use enough weight that challenges your muscles. If you are lifting and you can carry on a conversation and perform repetition after repetition then there is no challenge to the muscle. When you do resistance exercises you want your muscles to fatigue as you get close to the last 2 or 3 repetitions. This means if you are lifting to tone your muscles you want to perform 2-3 sets of 15-20 repetitions you should begin to struggle with the last few. On the 3rd set you may not be able to complete the full set because of muscle fatigue.

We see many clients, especially women, who are hesitant to increase the weight in their routine because they are afraid they will get “big”. Women do not produce enough testosterone naturally to get “big”. However, if you don’t want to increase the weight to increase the challenge, you can change your exercises in other ways.

We really like to add a stability factor into strength training exercises. This not only trains the body the way it was intended in an integrated way, but it also forces your body to burn more calories since more muscles are involved in the exercise.

Here’s an example of how you can take an everyday exercise and do it several ways with each adding a stability factor and therefore a new challenge to the body.

The bicep curl is usually performed a few ways (a machine, a crooked bar bell or with dumbbells) most often in a seated position with the arms stretched over some sort of pad so that you can supposedly isolate the muscle or standing in a position that puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the back. Not only is this a bad way to damage the connective tissue in your joints and injure your back over time, but it completely shuts down your body’s ability to use it’s natural stabilizing muscles that automatically contract every time we move.

Instead of using any of the aforementioned techniques try these out:

1. Lunge Dumbbell Curl: Hold dumbbells at your sides, step out into a lunge position. While holding the lunge, perform a bicep curl. Repeat 12-15 times.
2. Step-up Lunge Curl: Hold dumbbells at your sides, step out into a lunge position placing your front foot on a step or bench. While holding the lunge, perform a bicep curl. Repeat 12-15 times.
3. Step-up to Balance Curl: Hold dumbbells at your sides, step up onto a step or bench, balancing on one leg, and perform a bicep curl. Alternate legs Repeat 12-15 times.

You may have noticed that although we are doing the same movement in all of these exercises, each adds different stimuli to the body.

We will bring you ideas on other ways to continue to change your routine in coming articles, including changing the speed at which you perform your exercises to add a cardiovascular component to your routine.

Constant change and challenge in your routine will guarantee that you will never hit the exercise plateau again.

©July 2005 Blue Star Fitness