I always found a diagram of the human body to be very useful when it came to training. Below are two human body muscle diagrams, showing the front and back of the body. I’ve labelled the diagrams up to show the main human body muscles. I hope you find them as useful as I do.

Now that’s my bit over, making pretty pictures. I’ll leave it to the experts now, to explain a little bit more about the human body. The following information was taken from a range of professional websites, so thanks! I had no idea that the human body has over 656 muscles, although there are some experts who claim that there may be upward of 850. Muscles play an important and vital role in the body. There are three types of muscle found in the body: cardiac, skeletal and smooth. Muscles cause motion, either in the structures of the body or of the internal organs.

The neck muscles and massive triangular muscles of the back stabilise the head and shoulders and permit a range of complex movements. The most powerful muscles in the body and those that run along the spine. They maintain posture and provide the strength for lifting and pushing. The face muscles control a wide range of movements and are especially complex around the mouth and eyes.

Thanks for reading,

Just a quick one today.

What do you think about the image above?

Thanks,

I was just getting changed in the bedroom following my training session and my girlfriend asked me what some of the best exercises were? Which got me thinking, is there such a thing as a best exercise or group of best exercises or is it more to do with correct program design?

You see your overall goals and aims will dictate what exercises you do in your program and a good personal trainer (in my view) should be able to provide you with a periodisation training plan that focuses at the start of base conditioning. Whether you’re an average Joe or an athlete, as this is of vital importance.

Base conditioning or the preparatory phrase ensures you learn the basics in order to do the more challenging movements correctly and to be able to adapt through the learned movement (motor engrams) to an optimal performance level. It’s no good lifting 120kg in a dead lift if you have not been taught how to dead lift as it can result in injury and set you back further from your goal! It’s also no good lifting 120kg dead lift if there is no call to in your everyday living or sports performance.

Further investigation and research shows that once the correct exercises are chosen, choosing the correct number of Reps, Sets, Loads, Tempo and Rest Periods is even more important but we can investigate this at a later date in another blog.

So I think that program design by a good personal trainer/strength & conditioning coach will take into account what you do for a living/lifestyle/sport/fitness levels and how you need to function for this at an optimal level of performance. They will also be able to choose exercises that ensure functional movement for your lifestyle or if you’re an athlete then your coach will be able to replicate what you do in performance for training in order for you to have greater success during performance.

Something that Paul Chek and many other people have stated is that lots of program designs for people all look the same and only a very small amount of people take into account all of the above.

I do believe that experts have identified movements in many sports that replicate what athletes do in performance, and what normal run of the mill people do in every day to day life activities and do not dispute this at all. Even when some people do manage to identified these movement they get it wrong with the Reps, Sets, Loads, Tempo and Rest Periods by not taking into account that the individual is an individual.

Even though a left wing back is a left wing back, each left wing back will have different body and skills attributes, lets take Roberto Carlos and Steve Guppy for example.

What do you notice about both players legs, in particular the quadriceps?

In it’s simplest terms Roberto Carlos clearly has bigger quadriceps and thus would have had a different exercise routine than Steve Guppy, even though they’re both left wing backs playing the same game in the same era.

So did Roberto Carlos simply do the best exercises in order to get the biggest muscles or did he simply have a great program design that took into account his body type and playing position demands?

Do big muscles mean you achieve the best results and if so how did Steve Guppy mange to do so well as to get into the greatest Leicester City 11 ever as picked by Steve Walsh?

I’ll leave the post like this, bigger muscles or smarter muscles?

Thanks,

Advantages of Strength Training

Besides defining muscle groups, strength training is advantageous for your health for several reasons:

1) Building muscle tissue means to lower your body fat on the long term. Moreover, you also burn more calories a day; this means that your will feel healthier and fitter.

2) Regular training reduces the risk of injury. Furthermore, active persons have more energy for doing their physical activities and daily duties.

3) Muscle mass decreases as a consequence of ageing. Regular strength training and weight lifting prevents or lowers muscle loss during time.

4) You will have a stronger bone structure.

5) You will improve your stability and flexibility.

6) Your self-esteem will improve.

If you are interested in enjoying these advantages, all you have to do is to learn how to build muscle and begin your training.

Tips for Building Muscle Mass

Diet is very important for building muscle tissue. Your body needs to receive enough proteins. Lean red meats are recommended to be included in your daily meals to obtain the necessary nutrients for muscle growth. A body builder should combine their training sessions with a high protein diet for best results. If you as a body builder want that extra boost in helping to build and restore your muscles you should consider including weight gain supplements in your diet.

For every muscle group, you should do between 12 and 16 reps. In order to build mass, your muscles need to be worked until they reach the point of fatigue. This means that each set has to be completed even if you feel exhausted. Do not train more than two body parts a day. If you work your body too hard, the results will be affected.

Always practise intensively and do as many repetitions as possible. For better muscle definition, you should focus on warming up and increase the difficulty of the exercises gradually to avoid injuries.

Stay fit and build wisely,

Supersets

Supersets are pairs of exercises done back to back, usually targeting opposing muscle groups. Complete the first set of the first exercise before going straight into a set of the next exercise without any rest. One muscle group gets an active rest while the other works, you can reduce the time spent resting for a shorter, more intense workout that will achieve your aims quicker. I sometimes do supersets if I don’t have the right amount of time to train on that day.

Pyramid Sets

Pyramid sets use different rep ranges and weights. You start with high reps and a low weight, then increase the weight and decrease the reps. Do a pyramid set at the beginning of your workout to increase the weight progressively and set yourself up for some high quality straight sets. At the end of your workout reverse the pyramid to safely take your muscles to positive failure. Prepare yourself for a real burn and to feel like your body parts are about to fall off!

Cluster Sets

Select a pair of exercises that work opposing muscle groups, such as the chest and back. Pick up a weight you can lift 10 to 12 times, then do 5 reps of each move back to back. Continue without rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Use cluster sets when you don’t have time for a regular workout. By removing the rest but preserving the reps and time under tension, you’ll still get a training effect and train your muscles to deal with lactate.

Back-off Sets

When you get to your last set, reduce the weight by 40% and do as many reps as you can before you reach positive failure. If you want to lift to positive failure but are using a heavy weight, you can use back-off sets to do this safely with a lighter  weight. This will ensure a maximum muscle fatigue and burn more calories. I personally love this set! If you want to come out of the gym and really feel like you’ve had a good workout then these are the boys for you!

Post-Exhaustion

This technique follows a compound, multi-joint move with a single-joint isolated exercise targeting a particular muscle. The muscle is activated during the first exercise and then completely exhausted in the second. Use this when you’ve reached a training plateau and need to target a muscle group that’s not growing in response to regular workouts.

Mix it up folks,