Training Tips for Men
Stay Away From Weight Belts
Relying on a weight belt to support your back can actually harm rather than help.
Weight belts are the most abused pieces of personal equipment in the gym and can actually cause more problems than they prevent. There are a number of types of belts ranging from Velcro-attached nylon belts to heavy-duty leather belts to air bladder, pump-up belts. They are simply not necessary for most of the exercises people use them on.
Repeated overuse of belts will weaken your back if you continually rely on them unnecessarily. The reason for this is that you are no longer relying on your own natural weight belt: your abdominals.
Here is a technique you can use instead of a weight belt: Just before each set you do of an exercise that could compromise your back, breathe in and suck in your gut.
Eat Breakfast Like a King
Tapering your caloric intake is one of the best things you can do to lose fat.
If you are familiar with the phrase, "Eat breakfast like a king and dinner like a pauper", then you are familiar with the idea of tapering your calories. What this means is that you should eat your larger meals earlier in the day, i.e. eat your first meal like a king. This gives your body a chance to burn those calories that you just ate. Eating most of your carbohydrates, such as cereals, breads and fruit, earlier in the day is recommended as the body does not need them to be eaten at night: you've already got a full days storage of carbs in your body. Dinner should be your smallest meal and should be mostly protein with some complex carbs, such as vegetables. There is popular advice that says, "don't eat anything after six". This is basically the same idea about tapering calories but it should not be taken as gospel. While you may eat after six in the evening and still lose weight, watch what you eat and don't eat too much of it or you will take in calories that your body doesn't need and will just store.
Grip Work and Finishers
Why grip, and what the heck are finishers? I focus all my clients on real world strength, or functional strength. By training the grip you will have more wrist control (fewer injuries) and also you will be able to focus more and that will allow you to recruit more muscle fibers, thus making you stronger. Finishers are stuff that is functional.
After a hard leg session go out and push your car around the block. I have my clients do plate clean and press, carry sand bags either in front of them or on there shoulder, or do the dreaded Drill Instructor special (this consists of 5–10 minutes of push ups, situps, jumping jacks, deep knee bends, and running in place). These will be functional muscle (and not just the pretty-to-look-at kind).
Post-Workout Nutrition
I know it is supposed to be about weight training. The most common mistake most people make is not eating after they train or not eating the right thing. This meal should contain a mixture of different types of carbohydrates such as a high glycemic carbohydrate like glucose, a medium gylcemic carb like maltodextrin and a limited amount of a low glycemic carbohydrate like fructose.The glucose will cause an insulin spike to drive the nutrients into the muscle. The maltodextrin will be used to fill up the muscles with glycogen. Fructose should be included to replenish liver glycogen that has been used during training. The post workout meal should have at least 20% of the athletes daily protein needs and the best source of protein for the post workout meal is Whey.
To calculate your post workout protein needs take .20 times your body weight. (For example I would take 175 x .20 = 35 grams.)
This meal could be further enhanced by containing BCAAs, Glutamine and ribose. My post workout shake consists of 1 serving of Pro Blend 55, 12 BCAA blend caps, 20 grams of Glutamine, 5 grams of ribose mixed with 8oz grape juice, 1/2 cup maltodextrin, and 1/8 cup fructose. I make this from ingredients that anyone could get at just about any health food store.
