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Sample Full Body Training Program

Here is a sample program that we often use when training someone with limited equipment. It involves a pulling exercise, a push, a lower body exercise and a core exercise.

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Varying your rep ranges

When training in the gym do you stick to a general rep range? Do you follow the 3 sets of 10 rule because it is the best range for muscle gain? Or do you perform sets of 25 reps or more for toning? Well, hopefully after reading this article that will change and so will your results in the gym!

 The general accepted rule in exercise science is that reps of 1-4 result in primarily neural adaptions and reps of 10-15 or more result in primarily cellular or metabolic adaptions. This is true, to a point. What we need to realize is that all repetition ranges target both neural adaptions. If we can understand this and identify what adaptions are happening in what muscle fibers are what times we can improve the quality of our training and actually achieve our results!

When we lift weights there is a principle in neurology that we need to understand. It is called the size principle. What this principle tells us is that there is a certain ways that the nervous system recruits muscle fibers to perform any given task. For a task such as picking up a glass of milk your nervous system will only recruit a small portion of your muscle fibers, particularly your smaller, slow twitch fibers. This makes sense because using all your muscle fibers would cause you to throw the glass in the air! When you lift a heavy object, such as a heavy pot your nervous system will recruit all your muscle fibers for the task. This makes sense so as to make sure you do not injure yourself.

When we look at the size principle it states that the recruitment of muscle fibers will be dictated by both the load of the object and the speed of movement. If the load is light or the speed is slow the body will primarily recruit your type 1 muscle fibers which are smaller and more aerobic in nature, e.g. they can contract for a long time. If the load is heavy and the speed is fast the body will recruit the more explosive type 2B muscle fibers.

Now when we look at training this is interesting. We are told that the last few reps of any set are the most important as they are the ones that recruit all our muscle fibers. The size principle illustrates to us that it is clearly not the case. What actually happens at the end of the set we actually recruit less muscle fibers as the speed decreases and fatigue sets in. If we recruited more muscle fibers the weight would actually feel easier, not harder! 

So how do we work with this principle? It is really quite simple and when you start using it your strength, power and movement ability will skyrocket! What we do is we focus on lifting heavy loads as fast as possible and we stop the set when either the speed or range of motion reduce. If this happens it indicates to us that our type 2B explosive muscle fibers have fatigued. These particular fibers are the ones that will develop more strength, are more metabolically active and grow bigger! These are the three most common reasons people train – to lose weight, get bigger and get stronger! When we use this principle it also ensures good form as we stop each set before form breaks down. Also, in response to theories that fast lifting is dangerous when you run you absorb impact forces of 4-7 times body-weight! In sports we move explosively so our training should prepare you for the same!

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When we know this our ideas of reps change. When we look at the size principle we can ascertain that sets of 1-5 reps can actually be very conductive to hypertrophy training. In fact it may be the best way! So when designing your program, one method I have found very useful is to flip around your sets and reps. 

Some examples: 3 sets of 10 becomes 10 sets of 3

3 sets of 8 becomes 8 sets of 3

2 sets of 12 becomes 12 sets of 2

The combinations here are many. When we add up the weights that we will be using in this approach it is clear that this will lead to more muscle and strength gain due to the increased volume.

Example: 3 sets of 10 at 60 kg = 1800 total kg lifted

10 sets of 3 at 100 kg = 3000 total kg lifted – a difference of 1200 kg!!

So hopefully this article has inspired you with the knowledge and confidence to change around your program. Remember, if we do the opposite of what the majority is doing, we will probably be doing things better!!

Post Pregnancy Training

After childbirth, the abdominal muscles are stretched to well past their normal length. In this short video, learn two very valuable exercises in rehabbing the abdominal muscles after pregnancy. 

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Exercise of the Month – Dead Lift

The Dead Lift is an excellent exercise for weight loss, power, strength, muscle gain and core stability. Learn how to dead lift correctly in this informative video!

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Cable Push and Pull

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This an excellent exercise to train the core musculature in a functional standing pattern. It integrates the upper extremity to the core and the opposite lower limb. It is excellent for pushing and punching power, and maintaining the mobility of the thoracic spine.

What is Sports Kinesiology?

What is Sports Kinesiology? This is a question that we get asked almost daily. We at DC Health have decided to write this article in an attempt to get the answer to this question available to as many people as possible. 

Sports Kinesiology is a summation of the best of Western and Eastern medicine and health technologies. It combines methods and philosophies from osteopathy, traditional chinese medicine, functional anatomy, energetic medicine, strength and conditioning, chiropractic, nutritional medicine and bodywork therapies. It is a holistic approach to healing, health and well-being that considers all aspects of the person, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. This comprehensive approach allows us to revolutionize performance in a way not yet seen before and is the key difference here at DC Health.

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Here is an example of Sports Kinesiology at work. This is taken from a real case study and is an example of how sports kinesiology can fully work with the interconnectedness of the human organism. A client came in with torn ligaments in his shoulder. Surgery was scheduled. Using orthopedic assessment and a comprehensive knowledge of functional anatomy, the practitioner was able to ascertain that the injury actually originated in the opposite ankle. A look at this blog,

http://miketnelson.blogspot.com/2009/05/opposite-joints-my-elbow-hurts-you-want.html goes into detail about how the site that hurts is not often the cause of the problem. 

After treating the ankle the shoulder regained full pain free range of motion in one session. The next session was dedicated to clearing up imbalances in the shoulder musculature. Kinesiology uses neurological testing of muscles to see how the central nervous system is controlling them. A muscle has 3 possible responses. Either it has neuromuscular integrity, it has a lack of neuromuscular integrity and thus is ‘underfaciliatated’ or it is overworking and is thus ‘overfacilitated’. Kinesiology then uses different techniques to ascertain what is the actual cause of the neuromuscular dysfunction. This is what sets sports kinesiology apart. We can identify whether the problem comes from a physical problem, an emotional issue, a digestive disorder or a host of other possibilities. This gives sports kinesiology a huge advantage over other therapies. 

This clients particular problem related to some emotional issues. Each muscle in the body is related to a different meridian in Chinese medicine and each meridian has a set of different emotional issues or ‘life lessons’ that relate to it. This interconnectedness shows that each little issue we have affects our whole system and can cause a number of seemingly unrelated problems. By dealing with this clients emotional issues using gentle acupressure techniques we were able to resolve the issues and eliminate all the blocks to healing. 

The next step in this clients healing was to introduce a corrective exercise program. This included stretches, mobility drills, soft tissues techniques and corrective exercises tailored exclusively to this clients needs and particular imbalances. This combination of therapy and exercise is an invaluable step in recovery from any injury. The kinesiology in effect reset the neuromuscular system and the corrective exercise basically reinforced good patterns of movement and taught the client to move correctly again. 

In the end this client did not receive surgery and both his orthopedic surgeon and osteopath he was referred to by the physician were blown away by his healing. This is something that is not a miracle but can be a very common occurrence when the whole human body is addressed and treated. DC Health bases its training and treatment philosophy around this interconnected model. This allows us to effectively address nearly any issue our clients have and help them achieve their dreams.