Tag: Training Tips
Explode Your Athletic Ability With Unilateral Leg Movements
Unilateral leg movements will take your athletic potential to new heights. Bilateral leg movements such as squats come with their benefits, but single-leg movements have their buffet of benefits that you just can’t get from using both legs at the same time to lift the weight you’re using.
For starters, single-leg movements take away your balance, and you’ll have to rely a lot more on your hip, knee, and core stability to control the weight you’re lifting. This is something most athletes rely on. To learn all the benefits of training your legs unilaterally, finish the rest of this article.
What is Unilateral Training?
Unilateral training is when you train one side of your body as opposed to both sides. For example, instead of doing barbell bench press, you would do single-arm dumbbell bench press. This isolates one side of your body for you to place more focus on it without having to rely on your other side.
Unilateral Training vs. Bilateral Training
Bilateral training is when you’re using both sides of your body to lift the weight, e.g. barbell bench press. It’s great for building brute strength since you’ll be able to lift the heaviest weight possible for each muscle group using both sides of your body as opposed to just one. If you’re trying to hit a new personal record (PR) or grow the most muscle mass possible, you’ll mainly want to stick to bilateral movements. The big three exercises — barbell squat, barbell deadlift, and barbell bench press — are all bilateral movements that target the largest muscles in your body.
However, having muscular imbalances or relying too heavily on your “strong” side can cause muscular imbalances that lead to injuries or prevent you from using the heaviest weight you’re capable of using since your weak side is holding you back. And as the adage goes, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.
Honing in on just one side of your body can help you have a better mind-to-muscle connection to the muscle you’re targeting since your muscle neurons and mind is channeling all their energy to one side of your muscle instead of both. So that when you do go back to doing bilateral movements, your muscles will be more balanced and stronger. This means that you can hit new PRs on compound movements like barbell squats, barbell bent-over row, and barbell bench press.
Unilateral Leg Movements Benefits
Below, we’ll dial in on benefits that you can receive from single-leg movements.
Corrects Muscular Imbalances
Since most people typically rely heavily more on one side of their body to lift weight compared to the other, incorporating unilateral leg movements into your plan can fix any lower body muscular imbalances you may have. That’s because you’ll be forced to get your weaker side up to scale to the stronger side and won’t be able to rely on any help from the side of your body that was helping you compensate for your weak side. Of course, this will make you stronger since your weaker side won’t be holding you back anymore. This means more personal records (PRs) if you’ve been stuck at the same weight for a while!
In fact, the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport found that strength differences between limbs can be as high as 25%. (1)
Furthermore, since you’ll be able to give your fullest attention to just one leg, your quadriceps and hamstrings will grow stronger on each leg, preventing them from being imbalanced, which will reduce your chances of hamstring strains.
Builds a Stronger Core and Improves Your Balance
Single-leg exercises are great for strengthening your core. That’s because having to rely on one leg to perform an exercise will greatly challenge your stability and balance. Your core will have to fight to stabilize your body to maintain your balance. (2)
A study found that your balance increases better with single-leg exercises compared to bilateral exercises. (3)
More Hip and Knee Stability
Similarly, unilateral movements displace the center of your knee and hip stability, which means you’ll need to stabilize them to keep your balance. This especially comes in handy for many sports. For instance, a point guard depends a lot on the stability of their hips and knees to maneuver around the court to get past defenders and drive to the basket.
Makes You More Explosive
If you’re trying to increase your vertical, then you’ll want to start doing single-leg movements for sure. That’s because unilateral movements increase your force and rate production, meaning a stronger and faster lift; therefore, you’ll have more power. (4)
For one, in sports oftentimes you’ll need the ability to jump high off the ground from just the use of one leg, so doing some sport-specific unilateral leg exercises will prep you for any situation on the field or court. Moreover, strengthening one leg at a time will correct any imbalances in your weaker leg, which will inevitably allow you to jump higher off both legs.
This 2018 study found unilateral squats more effective than bilateral squats for building strength. (5)
How to Program Unilateral Leg Workouts
When programming unilateral leg workouts, you’ll want to keep your goal in mind. If your goal is hypertrophy (larger muscles), then you’ll want to do eight to 10 reps per side and focus on movements that target your quadriceps and hamstrings separately, such as single-leg machine leg extension and single leg machine leg curl. However, if your goal is to increase your power, vertical, and athletic ability, then you’ll want to use heavy weight and keep the reps below five reps per leg and do movements that challenge your knee, hip, and core stability the most and stick with movements such as dumbbell Bulgarian split squats.
Example Workout
Pistol squats (weights optional) 3 sets x 5-8 reps
Dumbbell split squat 3 sets x 5-8 reps
Single-leg dumbbell deadlift 2 sets x 8-10 reps
Forward lunge 2 sets x 12 reps
Lateral lunge 2 sets x 10 reps
Conclusion
Unilateral leg movements are essential for athletes and will increase your balance, stability, and power. You’ll have to rely on your ability to lift weight with just the use of one of your legs; this challenges your hip, knee, and core stability much more than bilateral movements. Plus, your proprioception is tested exponentially more with single-leg movements.
Have you ever tried unilateral training before? If so, what benefits did you noticed compared to bilateral movements? Tell us below in the comment section.
Reference
1 – A. Pearce, D. Kidgell, Reduction of the bilateral deficit following unilateral strength training: A TMS study, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Volume 13, Supplement 1, 2010, Page e88.
2 – Saeterbakken, Atle & Fimland, Marius. (2011). Muscle activity of the core during bilateral, unilateral, seated and standing resistance exercise. European journal of applied physiology. 112. 1671-8. 10.1007/s00421-011-2141-7.
3 – Fuad A. Hazime, Paul Allard, Maiza Ritomy Ide, Cassio Marinho Siqueira, César Ferreira Amorim, Clarice Tanaka,Postural control under visual and proprioceptive perturbations during double and single limb stances: Insights for balance training, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Volume 16, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 224-229.
4- Adamson, M., MacQuaide, N., Helgerud, J. et al. Unilateral arm strength training improves contralateral peak force and rate of force development. Eur J Appl Physiol 103, 553–559 (2008).
5 – Eliassen, W., Saeterbakken, A. H., & van den Tillaar, R. (2018). COMPARISON OF BILATERAL AND UNILATERAL SQUAT EXERCISES ON BARBELL KINEMATICS AND MUSCLE ACTIVATION. International journal of sports physical therapy, 13(5), 871–881.
How to Double Your Pull-Ups in 6 Weeks
Double Your Pull-Ups with these Simple Steps
Pull-ups are one of the most badass exercises. Being able to lift your body weight is pretty cool. Not only are pull-ups cool, they help you build functional strength. Imagine an apocalypse where you’re hanging off a cliff and the only way to survive is to pull yourself up.
Pull-ups also help you with building aesthetics. If you want a broad, V-tapered back, pull-ups are your best bet. Not a lot of people can perform pull-ups from the moment they step into a gym, and a few others want to build strength and endurance so they could do more reps.
Since you’re reading this article, we’re assuming you want to improve your pull-ups. Not only do pull-ups help in developing strength and size in your upper back but they are also a great core exercise.
Pull-ups help you in developing relative strength. Meaning, once you get better at this exercise, you’ll gradually become better at other athletic exercises like running, jumping, vertical jumps, and weightlifting.
Practice
There are no magic tricks to doubling your pull-ups. It will take a lot of practice, patience and determination. To be able to double your reps at an exercise will require an improvement in strength, endurance, and neurological efficiency.
Be Frequent
If you want to improve at a certain exercise or a certain body part, you should be training it often. CT Fletcher famously trained his arms every single day as he loved doing it. Performing pull-ups every day to failure might not be the best way to achieve your results.
If you’re looking to increase the number of reps, the best way would be to perform a certain percentage of your maximum reps for sets, and perform it frequently – frequently enough to exceed your current max.
Performing the pull-ups frequently will help you build a greater number of reps, and your strength, endurance, and proficiency improve as a by-product. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to do pull-ups as a warm-up exercise on every upper body training day.
The Workout
Doubling the number of pull-ups you can do will take some time. We have laid out a six-week program which will help you with incremental gains in strength and endurance so you could double your pull-ups in 42 days.
Week 1 and 2
Perform six sets of 50% of your current max (M), split throughout the day. At the end of the day, perform a single set of 75% of your current max. Perform this routine three days a week spread out evenly.
Example – If you can perform 20 reps of pull-ups at most, perform six sets of 10 reps (50% of M) spread evenly throughout the day. At the end of the day, perform a set of 15 reps (75% of M).
Chances are you won’t be able to perform the 15 reps in one set at the beginning of the first week. However, by the end of the second week, you should be able to achieve or be close to achieving the goal as your strength and endurance will increase.
Week 3
Your training will change a little during the third week. Perform 60% of your current max (M) for seven reps, split evenly throughout the day. At the end of the day, perform a single set of 90% (M). Repeat this routine three days a week. Re-test your maximum reps at the end of the third week.
Example – Perform 7 sets of 12 reps (60% of 20 reps), split evenly throughout the day. At the end of the day, perform 18 reps. You will most probably be able to hit 18 reps on the second day of this training split as your endurance will have improved. At the end of the third week, take three days off and then re-test your maximum.
The results: You will have improved 25% according to this program which is not bad at all!
The Way Forward
Once there is a 25% improvement in your strength, endurance and results, you will be certain this program is working for you. All you need to do is, repeat the training all over again until you double your pull-ups. For this we will start week 4, using 25 as (M).
Week 4 and 5
Everything remains the same as Week 1 and 2, only the numbers change. Perform six sets of 13 reps (50% of 25), split evenly throughout the day. At the end of the day, perform a set of 19 reps (75% of M). You’ll have no trouble performing the 19 reps by the end of the second week.
Week 6
For Week 6, you will perform seven sets of 15 reps (60% of M), split throughout the day. Perform 23 reps (90% of M) at the end of the day for a single set. Then take three days off, and retest your maximum. We’re confident once you re-test your max, you’ll be able to do 35 or more reps.
This isn’t an easy program to follow, but it certainly works.
How many pull-ups can you do right now? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
Follow This Guaranteed Way of Developing Your Upper Chest
Develop Your Upper Pecs With These Steps
If you’re like most people, your upper chest will be one of your weakest muscle groups. The upper chest can be one of the most stubborn muscle groups to develop. You’ll need much more than a vanilla chest workout program to develop your upper pecs.
Making a single adjustment will not be enough to see positive progress. You’ll need to make a series of modifications to ignite new muscle growth and make your upper pecs show improvement.
Train Your Upper Pecs At The Beginning of Your Chest Workout
Most people train their upper pecs later in their chest workout when the fatigue starts to kicks in. You should make it a point to train your weaker muscle groups at the beginning of your workouts while you’re fresh and full of energy.
Depleting ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) stores can reduce the overall effect of the exercises on your upper pecs. If you train your upper pecs later in your workouts, you might not have the best mind-muscle connection and the resulting pump.
Use Advanced Training Principles
Many people stick to the stock training programs of 3 sets of 12-10-8 repetitions. If you follow this workout for too long, your body will get accustomed to it and will stop showing progress.
You should include at least one advanced training principle like the drop-sets, super-sets, intra-set stretching, BFR training, etc. in your workouts. You need to keep your muscles guessing in order for them to grow bigger and stronger.
Thanks to the advancement in exercise science, there are enough advance training principles that you can employ a new one in your workouts every week for a long period of time.
Show Your Upper Chest Some Love on Shoulder Day
It’s common practice amongst gym-goers to train their weaker muscle groups twice a week. For instance, if an individual has weaker biceps, he might train his biceps on Monday with his triceps and on Thursday with his back.
Most people don’t follow the same approach with their chest and reserve their pec training to a single day. If you have a lagging upper chest, you should do a few sets of incline bench work on your shoulder day.
You could do some incline bench presses, dumbbell flyes at the end of a shoulder workout or modify your military shoulder presses to target your upper pecs by using a 75-80-degree incline bench. You’ll be destroying two targets with a single arrow with the second approach.
Change Your Rep Tempo
You need to constantly shock your muscles into growing and changing your rep tempos is one of the best ways of doing it. Most people follow the vanilla (1:1:1:1) rep tempo where they take one second each to lower the weight, pause at the bottom, elevate and pause at the top respectively.
Modifying the rep tempo and following something like (4:2:1:2) can change the entire dynamics of your workouts and wake your upper pecs from hibernation. There can be a million combinations of the rep tempos and you should keep experimenting with them.
Header image courtesy of Envato Elements
Which is your weakest muscle group? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
6 Ways To Improve Your Mind-Muscle Connection
Improve Your Mind-Muscle Connection With These Steps
The mind-muscle connection is the difference between just going through the movements and establishing a connection with your muscles. The Governator, Arnold, brought the concept into the limelight in the classic documentary, Pumping Iron.
While performing an exercise, you should have a laser focus on your working muscle. Having a good mind-muscle connection will help you get an incredible pump and annihilate your muscles.
Slow Down The Movement
Many people make the mistake of rushing through their reps. Going through the motions for the sake of it isn’t going to do you any good. You can significantly improve your mind-muscle connection by slowing down the reps.
Arnold didn’t train his muscle, he became the muscle. Your entire focus should be on your muscles while performing an exercise. You can try taking two seconds on the concentric, two seconds on the eccentric movement and a second at the top and bottom to improve your mind-muscle connection.
Warm-Up Before Training
Some people jump into their workouts as soon as they reach the gym. You should allow your body enough time to warm-up and get ready for the exercises. One of the best ways to warm-up for resistance training is to stretch out your muscles and warm up the joints.
Other than priming your muscles for your workout, warming up before training helps in circulating blood to the muscles. Warming-up before training can help you experience a better mind-muscle connection.
Use Isolation Exercises
It can be harder to establish a mind-muscle connection while performing compound movements as compared to isolation exercises. As bodybuilders, we are pump chasers. A pump is when blood rushes into the working muscle and expands it. The blood takes the essential nutrients for growth to the muscle fibers.
If you don’t feel a pump while performing compound (multi-joint) movements, try doing isolation (single joint) lifts. For example, instead of performing the barbell bench press, prefer the hammer strength press or a chest press machine.
Hold and Contract At The Top and Bottom
Holding and contracting your muscles at the top and bottom of the movement can be incredibly effective in inducing a pump by establishing a mind-muscle connection. A mind-muscle connection and pump are inter-connected.
Hold a rep for a couple of seconds and squeeze the living hell out of your muscles at the contraction point to help ignite new muscle growth. You should also consider user lighter weights and focusing on your muscles if you’re not able to set-up a mind-muscle connection.
Have Your Training Partner Tap Your Working Muscle
A lack of mind-muscle connection can be overcome by actively engaging your muscles while performing an exercise. As an example, while performing the tricep cable pressdowns, ask your training partner to tap on your tris while you perform the required number of repetitions.
The external tapping by the spotter will send signals to your mind and force it to connect with your muscles. The tapping should be gentle and continuous following a pattern. You shouldn’t be disturbed or rocked back and forth by the tapping.
Pose Between Sets
Most people unknowingly lose their mind-muscle connection between sets while they are resting. Some of them either start chatting or using their phones and break out of the workout “zone”.
Posing between sets is the best way to maintain or establish a mind-muscle connection. Contract your working muscles as hard as you can, and you’ll feel the mind-muscle connection and pump in your sets.
Header image courtesy of Envato Elements
What do you do for better muscle pumps? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Grow Your Calves Into Bulls With This One Simple Trick
This One Tip Will Turn Your Calves Into Bulls
I’ll come out clean; I suffered from CLS (chicken leg syndrome) for a long time. My quads and hams weren’t as big a problem as compared to my calves. Small calves can make your legs looks skinnier than they are.
You don’t want to be ridiculed for having a huge upper body and tiny legs. Having a weaker lower body can even have an adverse psychological effect on you. You might lose all your confidence in your physique if your legs are lagging.
Wearing track pants to the gym and outside isn’t a permanent solution to this problem. Arnold’s weakest body part was his legs. He turned this weakness into a strength by wearing shorts to the gym every day.
People made fun of him for his skinny legs. Arnie, being the champion he is, used this body shaming as a motivation. Look around in your gym, and you might see people with relatively weaker calves.
Other than genetics, the reason behind this could be the lack of knowledge and understanding. The broscientists at your gym might have convinced you to follow the ‘right approach’ to calf training and stick to a certain number of exercises, sets, and reps.
Doing The Wrong Thing
Most people make the mistake of doing the same exercises over and over again. The most amount of variation they have in their calf workouts is the weekly alternation between the standing and seated calf raises.
Calves being the stubborn muscle groups they are, can be one of the hardest to grow. You need to train your calves from all the angles to ensure an overall development. The standing variation targets the gastrocnemius while the seated version targets the soleus.
When it comes to calf training, some people treat it as accessory work and train them at the end of their leg workouts after they’re completely exhausted. You should be training your calves at the beginning of your workouts, especially if you have underdeveloped calves.
Calves Are Not Different
While most people like doing 12-15 sets while training every other muscle group, they stick with just three sets for their calves. You stand on your calves for entire days. You need to be doing more to shock them into growing.
You should be treating your calves just like all the other muscle groups. Aim to hit failure every time you’re training your calves. Regularly changing the intensity of your calf workouts will also take your gains to the next level.
Grow Your Calves Into Bulls
I had tried everything, the standing and seated calf machines, donkey calf raises, single leg calf raises and calf raises on the leg press, but nothing seemed to work for me. There was hardly any technique I didn’t use.
This was when I decided to return to the basics and move my way up. I quit using any weights. I realised people with small calves (me included) wasted a lot of their time on the calf machines lifting heavy weight just to compensate for their toothpick legs.
Ego lifting keeps these people from having a complete range of motion – which is detrimental in developing your calves. I then did something which might sound a little counterintuitive. I stopped training calves in the gym.
Get On Your Toes
There is a reason ballerinas have toned calves even when they have skinny legs. They spend most of their times on their toes. This puts all their body weights on their calves and ankles. I could see how this can be my ticket to bigger calves.
No, I didn’t signup for a ballerina class. Instead, I decided to train my calves every single day for the next one month at home, right before I go to bed. This proved to be the change my calves needed.
The Workout
This workout consists of only one exercise and one set. You will be doing 100 reps of standing calf raises. You need to make sure you’re on your toes at the top of the movement and squeeze the hell out of your calves.
Have all the tension on your big toe while lifting yourself. Don’t transfer your weight on the smaller toes. You should look like a ballerina standing on her toes while you’re at the top of the movement.
Stand beside a wall and follow the same movement and momentum throughout the exercise. Don’t hold onto or lean against the wall. Doing this can take off the tension from your toothpicks.
You don’t have to worry about the negative motion (below parallel) of this movement. Squeezing your calves at the top of the movement and coming back to the starting position is enough to get the gains going.
Slowly raise yourself during the concentric movement (going up) and follow the same motion on the eccentric part. Don’t drop like a bomb while coming down. Maintain a mind-muscle connection throughout the exercise.
The first time you try this workout, your calves will be on fire. Go to bed right after finishing the workout and give your body time to recover. As you get better, add 15 reps to this exercise. Aim for complete muscle failure at the end of this workout.
Which is the most effective workout according to you?
Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Pullup Variations That Need To Be In Your Workout For Growth
Change up your workouts with these variations of the staple pullup exercise in order to see great growth and gains for your bodybuilding goals.
Pullups are an effective and timeless workout that challenge your upper body for sheer strength. While they can be awfully boring and repetitive, the benefits of pullups far exceed the monotony involved with doing them.
While its rival in the chin-up may be slightly easier, its important to not shy away from pull ups simply because its more difficult. With a variety to choose from for pull ups, pull ups can be fun and inventive in your pursuit to get big. As an exercise to really see great growth and gains in the upper body, pull ups are important to add into your routine for maximum benefits and ultimate functional performance.
Pull ups are a compound exercise putting them in the same family as the deadlift, squat, and bench press. A compound exercise is one that involves multi-joint movements and works several muscle groups at one time. It may be hard to get this as a compound exercise, for it looks as though you simply pull yourself off the ground by holding a bar, but the power required of your body far exceeds what it looks like.
Pull ups may not target your lower body, but your upper body gets serious work done to it. Every muscle gets worked, including the lats, biceps, pecs, deltoids, triceps, forearms, and traps for that all-in-one targeting session to keep you looking and feeling great with your muscles.
Benefits Of Pull Ups
The benefits of pull ups should be an instant cue to implement these into your workout if you do not do so already. Pull ups are great strength builders for the entire upper body workout they provide is sure to keep you feeling big. But the functional strength is also something beneficial for all.
Everyday movements like walking, pushing, pulling, and turning can improve and you will build a solid relationship between your nervous and muscular systems. By increasing your back and core strength, better posture will become apparent and as a result you will look leaner and longer.
Pull ups will provide that boost to improve your physique and get that V-shape upper body everyone strives towards. Plus, you look great in the gym when you can push out non-stop reps on the bar for any number of sets.
Importance Of Pullups & Their Variations
Doing your standard pull ups are obviously beneficial for your overall strength but the boredom may be enough to stop you from sticking with a solid pull ups routine. A boring routine can be tough to struggle through and when it comes to your workouts it is important to have fun.
This will keep you engaged and seeing great growth instead of suffering through the monotony of a training. Changing the grip and trying different variations is a great way to keep you mentally checked in with the exercise to keep having fun and striving towards those gains.
Since pull ups are such a versatile exercise for your arms, it can affect your body differently with a simple grip change. Versatility allows for easy changes to be made to form and technique for a wide variety of exercises with a pull up bar.
The benefit is that you not only work different muscles, but you can do these everyday because you aren’t working the same muscle every time. This also plays into the versatility of the exercise which allows many muscle to be worked at once. Adding in the legs, either by raising them or extending them, gets the core fired up and offers the chance for that six-pack to join your much-desired V-shape.
These variations are great to try for the added benefit of diversity and function. It is important to make and keep solid form so as to reduce the risk of injury to your arms as a result of the repeated strain of pull ups and the progression of difficulty to perform many pull ups (1).
Commando Pullup
The Commando pull ups are one to increase lateral instability, putting stress on your core to make up for it. Aside from boosting your core strength, it will also widen out your lats and give you those bat-like wings you want from a pull up bar and that position.
How to: Start sideways to the pull ups bar and grab it with one hand in front of the other. With a tight core, pull up towards the bar and shift your head to either side to not hit the bar. Lower back down and alternate sides with your head every other rep for optimal position to perform with great form using your biceps to also challenge your chest.
L-sit Pullup
L-sit pull ups can be challenging and involves bringing your legs into the mix. It is an excellent variation for core strength, as well as hamstring and hip flexibility. It will provide greater time under tension to develop muscle growth which adds solid resistance to the training to get great growth from a pull up bar and that position for however many reps to get your arms and chest fired up depending on your level of your bodyweight workouts, whether high level or intermediate.
How to: Grab the bar at about shoulder-width apart with your hands and bring your legs up so they are parallel to the ground. While keeping your legs straight out and your core tight, pull up toward the bar. Lower back down and repeat for desired number of reps.
Wide-Grip Pullup
Wide-grip pull ups will help cover your whole back since the distance to the bar is shorter than a normal or close-grip pullup. Unlike the close-grip, the wide-grip will not use the chest and bicep as much, thus relying more on the back to give you that stellar and strong back from a wide grip pull. You can even do a behind the neck pull with a pull up bar for a number of exercises.
How to: Grab the bar making a Y-shape with your hands and arms from your torso. Each arm should be somewhere from 30 to 45 degrees from the body. Proceed like a regular pullup by pulling yourself up and gently lower back to the starting position.
Around-The-World
Around-the-World is an advanced variation of classic pull ups, but one with extreme strength benefits. It focuses the stress on individual arms and boosts time under tension. Although difficult, it is a fun variation and you look good doing it. Although challenging, it will allow for serious growth and is one of a few advanced pull up variations. The around the world pull works to enhance grip strength and the upper back and other back muscles depending on the exercises you use and do despite the difficulty or weight.
How to: Grab the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart. Instead of pulling straight up, go in a counter-clockwise direction, pulling yourself partly to the right side and continuing with the bar in front of you. Repeat the same process, however, change to a clockwise direction and add or subtract difficulty or weight.
Weighted Pullup
Weighted pull ups are a great challenge to add more weight than just your body. A heavier, lower-rep set activates different muscle fibers and increases your ability for greater strength and size, as well as grip strength from a pull up grip to enhance upper body strength as well. You can use a neutral grip or an overhand grip, as well as regular pull ups and a mixed grip as opposed to a regular pull up.
How to: You can use a weighted vest or take a weight belt with chains to hang plates on. If you don’t have these, put one foot through a kettlebell or hold a dumbbell between crisscrossed legs. With a tight core and your desired grip, complete a normal pullup and gently lower down and remove the weight.
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Others:
Close-grip Pull Ups
Archer Pull Ups
Muscle Up
Towel Grip Pull Ups
Mixed Grip Pull Ups
Single Arm Pull Ups
Behind the Neck
Wrap Up
Pull ups are an essential exercise to have in your training regiment. Although they can be terribly boring, these variations should at least change things up and provide for a fun twist on this staple exercise. The benefits are great and improving functional strength as well as stability is just as important for in the gym as it is out of it.
By incorporating different variations, you allow your body to work different muscles without extra strain and you will surely have those big gains. Pull ups are key to a stellar physique so put these in your workouts and get those big gains and increased range of motion come to life.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
*Images courtesy of Envato
References
Prinold, Joe A.I.; Bull, Anthony M.J. (2016). “Scapula kinematics of pull-up techniques: Avoiding impingement risk with training changes”. (source)
Athletic Performance Enhancement: Improve Your Blood Flow
Increase Your Performance in the Gym and Bedroom
If there was a legalized drug you could take for athletic performance enhancement, then it would be a pre-workout. That’s because quality pre-workouts contain the ingredient, the amino acid, l-citrulline, which increases your blood flow, which is imperative for optimal performance.
Lifestyle factors such as drinking, lack of exercise, and eating unhealthy foods can lead to poor blow flow, and if you want a surefire way to kill your gains and have less athletic performance, then keep eating Big Macs and omit the rest of this article.
However, if you want to learn why improving your blood is important for the gym (and the bedroom), and the steps you can take to vastly increase your blood flow and make it flow as smoothly as the Amazon River, then you’ll want to keep reading.
Why It’s Important to Improve Your Blood Flow
Bad blood flow can lead to many negative health issues, including heart disease, erectile dysfunction, varicose veins, cold hands and feet, fatigue, and digestive issues. Improving your blood flow has abundant benefits for your workouts and body.
There’s a reason why pre-workouts are effective for athletic performance enhancement, and that’s because they not only give you energy, but they produce more blood flow to your muscles. Of course, you’ll want to make sure you’re taking the right pre-workout though. Take one with the compound l-citrulline to make your blood flow fluidly.
L-citrulline is a compound that quality pre-workouts have, but you can also find L-citrulline in watermelon. Interestingly, l-citrulline is known as the “natural viagra,” meaning increased bed performance as well (and who wouldn’t want that! ). (1)
L-citrulline boosts nitric oxide production in your body, and anything that produces nitric oxide, including l-arginine, is good for your blood flow. Nitric oxide helps your arteries relax and work better, and studies show that nitric oxide enhances your workout performance. (2)
This 2018 study proved that l-citrulline is effective for increasing workout performance. (3)
That pump you get when you workout — you know the reason you look bigger every time you’re done doing a burnout set. Well, that’s simply from an increase in blood flow to your muscles from your workout. Of course, the more blood flow you have, the bigger your muscles will look. Therefore, if you increase the blood flow to your muscles, you’ll receive the benefit of a bigger pump too — making all your workout buddies look scrawny.
Athletic Performance Enhancement Workouts
If you have more blood flow streaming to your muscles, then you’ll have athletic performance enhancement. That’s because blood flow is essential in providing your muscles with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to lift weight. You’ll be able to lift more weight and do more reps the better quality your blood flow is. That’s why pre-workouts are effective; they increase your blood flow.
In fact, this study found that pre-workout increases your anaerobic performance — e.g., sprinting, jumping, and weightlifting — during workouts. (4)
What Else Does It Effect
Good blood flow is also important for many aspects of your health parameters in general. Of course, better blood flow means healthier cardiovascular health, which means less chance of heart disease — the number one cause of death for Americans. Adequate blood flow also moves oxygen throughout your body to allow your lungs, muscles, and other organs to function more properly. Also, you’ll transport all the white blood cells you need throughout your body, which is important for a strong immune system.
Aside from getting killer workouts in and better health, good blood flow will make you a champ in the sack. That’s because a strong erection and good bedroom performance require ample blood flow below the belt. So not only will you be hitting new personal records (PRs) in the gym, but you’ll also leave your significant other vying for your attention.
How to Improve Your Blood Flow
For starters, there are a few key things you’ll need to do to improve your blood flow. For one, you’ll need to move. Any form of exercise does wonders for your blood flow. Anything that’s heart-healthy will improve your blood, and fortunately, exercise is excellent for your heart and getting your blood pumping.
Secondly, you’ll want to reduce the number of processed foods you eat. This will clog your arteries, which will have a negative effect on your blood flow, so you’ll want to omit the fried chicken and replace that with nutrient-dense foods, especially ones that contain antioxidants like blueberries and raspberries since that can help with increasing your blood flow especially. Also, fruits such as oranges are rich in vitamin C, which is amazing for your blood flow.
Workouts That Improve Your Blood Flow
As aforementioned, any exercise is good for your blood flow; however, some are better than others. Doing sprints and HIIT workouts are especially effective at increasing your blood flow since they require high cardio output. Your heart rate will skyrocket, and your body will have no choice but to produce more blood flow to provide your body with the oxygen it needs to get you through the workouts.
If you want to go the more chill route, try walking. Walking has vast benefits for your body and is enough to greatly increase your blood flow.
Ingredients That Improve Your Blood Flow
Aside from exercise and diet, certain supplements and ingredients are specifically crafted for enhancing your blood flow.
Below, is a list of the different ingredients that studies have been proven to increase your blood flow.
Ingredients
Vitamin C (5)
Garlic (6)
Horse Chestnut Extract (7)
Pine Bark Extract (8)
Final Word
If you want athletic performance enhancement (and better bedroom performance), then you’ll want to take the necessary steps mentioned in this article to get your blood pumping in all the right places (including below your belt). Having good blood flow is imperative for optimal health, including reducing your chances of erectile dysfunction, preventing heart disease, and improving your athletic performance.
Do you take any blood flow-enhancing ingredients or supplements? If so, how did it affect you? We’d love to know.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more content to improve your health and fitness.
Reference
Cormio, L., De Siati, M., Lorusso, F., Selvaggio, O., Mirabella, L., Sanguedolce, F., & Carrieri, G. (2011). Oral L-citrulline supplementation improves erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction. Urology, 77(1), 119–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2010.08.028
Mosher, S. L., Sparks, S. A., Williams, E. L., Bentley, D. J., & Mc Naughton, L. R. (2016). Ingestion of a Nitric Oxide Enhancing Supplement Improves Resistance Exercise Performance. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 30(12), 3520–3524. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001437
Koozehchian, M. S., Daneshfar, A., Fallah, E., Agha-Alinejad, H., Samadi, M., Kaviani, M., Kaveh B, M., Jung, Y. P., Sablouei, M. H., Moradi, N., Earnest, C. P., Chandler, T. J., & Kreider, R. B. (2018). Effects of nine weeks L-Carnitine supplementation on exercise performance, anaerobic power, and exercise-induced oxidative stress in resistance-trained males. Journal of exercise nutrition & biochemistry, 22(4), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.20463/jenb.2018.0026
Martinez, N., Campbell, B., Franek, M., Buchanan, L., & Colquhoun, R. (2016). The effect of acute pre-workout supplementation on power and strength performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 13, 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-016-0138-7
Cognitive and Cerebral Blood Flow Effects of Vitamin C. (2010). Clinical Trials. Published. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01055418#moreinfo
Mahdavi-Roshan, M., Mirmiran, P., Arjmand, M., & Nasrollahzadeh, J. (2017). Effects of garlic on brachial endothelial function and capacity of plasma to mediate cholesterol efflux in patients with coronary artery disease. Anatolian journal of cardiology, 18(2), 116–121. https://doi.org/10.14744/AnatolJCardiol.2017.7669
Pittler, M. H., & Ernst, E. (2012). Horse chestnut seed extract for chronic venous insufficiency. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 11(11), CD003230. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003230.pub4
New study: pine bark extract boosts nitric oxide production. (2007a). Hypertension Research. Published.
Best Tips For Bodybuilders To Maximize Recovery
Recovery is incredibly important for our overall growth and these tips will get you on track to recover as fully as you can.
We all know that recovery matters. That is one thing drilled into us especially when we first start to train. In fact, recovery is equally if not more important than your actual workout. So, don’t let poor recovery hurt all of those gains you sacrifice time and energy for. A poor recovery routine can outweigh the best workout routine any day of the week. Without proper rest and recuperation you set yourself up for failure, no matter your experience level, natural ability, or sheer determination. Poor recovery equals less gains which equals less bodybuilding success.
Poor recovery will also make you feel fatigued and sore, hurting your routine when it comes to everyday life as well. That sucky, tired feeling just doesn’t help anyone and there is no point in digging yourself into a hole. Living a healthy lifestyle should be enjoyable and your bodybuilding goals will surely show when your outside life becomes happier and healthier. You have too much to lose from a poor recovery routine so don’t let that happen. Treat your body like the temple it is and see your hard work and progress shine.
Why Recovery Matters
When we workout, especially after a grueling workout, our central nervous system (CNS) really fires up. Your CNS is responsible for engaging your body and mind to push you through a workout. This controls the signal from your brain and muscular system so your body works together as one. With an overloaded central nervous system, this can spill into your personal life and hurt relationships and cognitive functioning especially with insufficient rest.
When it comes to your muscles, your muscle recovery is equally as important. When we lift, we suffer small tears in our muscles. When these tears finally heal, this is when we see huge growth. As our muscles begin to fill out and increase in strength and size, ample recovery allows for them to heal properly so we see that desired growth seriously unfold (1).
Without proper recovery, fatigue can lead to overtraining which will really put us in a state of stress. Signs of overtraining include:
Decreased performance
Increased perceived effort
Increased fatigue
Poor sleep and appetite
Chronic or nagging injuries
Finding ample time to recover can decrease your chances of overtraining which will elevate training and performance and keep your lifestyle in a healthy place overall.
Best Recovery Tips For Bodybuilders
Get Sleep
Sleep affects the whole body and is a ripe time for recovery to take place. Essential for many bodily functions like brain health, your immune system, and metabolism, getting enough sleep is vital for your rest and muscle recovery. Somewhere in the ball park of eight hours a night is perfect for recharging your body for the next day’s workout. While our busy schedules may not be conducive to that, it is important to make sleep a priority (2).
Eat Adequate Amounts Of Protein
Protein is the building block of all muscle and working to get ample amounts of protein in your body is more than important for that growth. Containing BCAAs and EAAs, protein seriously works to enhance all aspects of your growth and performance when it comes to your muscles. Eating a hearty meal of protein rich foods is great, but also supplementing with a whey or vegan protein powder can pump you with ample amounts of protein to see that desired growth. Protein will also keep you full and work to suppress your appetite from any unwanted snacking and cravings (3).
Hydrate!
Hydration is key in increasing exercise performance for it keeps your muscles hydrated and working more efficiently and works to help you cognitively as well. Through sweating and breathing, we lose ample amounts of water and restoring those stores is important for optimal day to day functioning. Not enough hydration can lead to cramps and increased fatigue so working to drink around 8-10 200ml glasses of water a day is a good place to start.
Foam Rolling & Stretching
Foam rolling and stretching is a great way to release tightness, soreness, and inflammation and is great for doing pre-workout, during your workout, or post-workout. Both can leave you feeling limber and loose giving your muscles a great stretch. Both stretching and foam rolling can increase blood flow and allow for better tissue and organ functioning by permitting the exchange of nutrients and waste to keep things running smoothly (4).
Ice Bath
An ice bath may be very cold and uncomfortable at first, but you will be glad you did it after. Ice baths can relax sore muscles, improve your central nervous system, and limit inflammation to keep your muscles primed and less sore than before. Ultimately, a good ice bath can lead to faster and more efficient recovery.
Eat A Balanced Diet
Eating a balanced diet of whole foods is a great way to ensure easy recovery. Eating well is enjoyable and lets you get creative with fun ways to cook meals so you eat healthy and don’t suffer from a boring diet. Getting nutrients from whole foods is very important and should not be overlooked. Making sure you get the right balance of macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) will ensure a well balanced diet.
Solid Supplementation Routine
While getting the essential vitamins and minerals from whole foods is very important, sometimes a good supplementation routine is all you need to see that much desired growth. Often times we miss out on certain vitamins and minerals which can lead us down a road of dietary despair, but with great supplements like multivitamins, pre-workouts, and intra-workout BCAAs, there are plenty of options to keep us healthy overall.
Wrap Up
Recovering is more than important for our training and performance goals. Poor recovery can lead to many negative side effects of overtraining and simply not getting enough rest. With recovery equally as important as the physical workout, it doesn’t make sense for you to have a poor recovery routine. Look into incorporating these above tips into your lifestyle and see your bodybuilding gains really start to grow. Recovery feels good and is easy to accomplish so there should be no excuse for having a poor recovery routine. Enjoy feeling growth from your workouts, but love seeing growth in your recovery.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
*Images courtesy of Envato
References
Borsheim, Elisabet; Tipton, Kevin D.; Wolf, Steven E.; Wolfe, Robert R. (2002). “Essential amino acids and muscle protein recovery from resistance exercise”. (source)
Dattilo, M.; Antunes, H. K. M.; Medeiros, A.; Neto, M. M.; Souza, H. S.; Tufik, S.; de Mello, M. T. (2011). “Sleep and muscle recovery: endocrinological and molecular basis for a new and promising hypothesis”. (source)
Pasiakos, Stefan M.; Lieberman, Harris R.; McLellan, Tom M. (2014). “Effects of protein supplements on muscle damage, soreness and recovery of muscle function and physical performance: a systematic review”. (source)
Sands, William A.; McNeal, Jeni R.; Murray, Steven R.; Ramsey, Michael W. et al. (2013). “Stretching and Its Effects on Recovery: A Review”. (source)
Everything You Need To Know About The Inverted Row
The Ultimate Exercise For Building The Back
There are a number of popular resistance exercises that are used to develop the major muscles of the back such as the lats, rhomboids, and traps.
Regardless of your level of experience, the inverted row is an exercise that can prove to be highly beneficial for building the back.
This article will firstly detail how to perform the inverted row and then discuss a number of the benefits that are associated with the exercise.
Finally, the article will provide a number of inverted row variations and alternatives that can be used to align with your needs, limitations, and goals.
How to Perform the Inverted Row
While the inverted row is relatively straightforward in set-up and execution, it is worthwhile running through the below steps to ensure that you are performing the movement safely and effectively.
Step One: The exercise will be completed using a squat rack or Smith’s machine and the first step is to adjust the bar height.
When under the bar, ensure that it is slightly lower than the pecs to optimize lat development. For trap development, align the bar over the middle of the pecs.
Step Two: Grasp the bar using a grip that is similar to a conventional barbell row. This means using an overhand grip and placing the hands slightly wider than shoulder-width.
Keep the legs extended away from the body and avoid letting the hips drop – the body should be held long.
Step Three: Before initiating the row, pull the shoulders back and down, drive the chest up, and engage the core muscles.
Row the chest towards the bar by squeezing between the shoulder blades and bending at the elbows.
Step Four: Once the chest has risen to the bar, emphasize the squeeze between the shoulder blades before reversing the movement in a controlled fashion.
Inverted Row Benefits
As mentioned, the inverted row can serve as an effective exercise for every lifter, regardless of their level of experience.
With that being said, there are specific benefits that a beginner lifter may experience with the inverted row that differ from the benefits experienced by an advanced lifter.
Beginner Inverted Row Benefits
1) Foundational Strength Exercise
The inverted row has been found to highly activate a number of major muscles found in the back, shoulders, and arms (1).
Therefore, the inverted is a superb exercise and allows the beginner to effectively build strength in the upper body.
2) Highly Adaptable
One of the best things about the inverted row is that it can be easily adapted to increase or reduce the demand on the back.
For example, by bringing the feet further away, the body becomes more parallel to the floor. This, in turn, increases the range of motion of the row thus increasing the demand.
3) Improving Technique and Movement
When it comes to strength training for beginners, the focus should initially be on improving movement efficiency.
A combination of building a base level of strength and enhancing technique can allow the lifter to then progress onto more challenging back-based exercises such as the barbell bent row.
Intermediate / Advanced Inverted Row Benefits
1) Increasing Training Volume
While more challenging exercises will likely be prioritized for the intermediate or advanced lifter, the inverted row can be effectively used to increase training volume.
Research has highlighted that a high training volume is best for enhancing the rate of growth (2) and therefore, using the inverted row as an accessory exercise can prove to be beneficial for back hypertrophy.
2) Less Taxing on Joints
While heavy rowing exercises are beneficial for accelerating the rate of strength development, they can be highly taxing on the shoulder and elbow joints.
Considering that the conventional inverted row uses only bodyweight, it will reduce the amount of stress that these joints experience while still effectively working the back muscles.
3) Improving Muscle Activation
The inverted row provides a great opportunity to develop muscle activation. As highlighted, the inverted row can be easily manipulated to increase the demand or develop specific characteristics.
By focusing on time under tension through the use of eccentric and tempo sets, you can effectively improve back and shoulder muscle activation (3).
Inverted Row Progressions and Alternatives
This section will detail a number of progressions and alternatives that can be used to increase or reduce the demand of the inverted row.
Inverted Row Progressions
1) Tempo Inverted Row
The tempo variation is excellent for improving time under tension and muscle contractility. The method very simply involves manipulating the tempo of each contraction.
A common tempo method is the “3112” which involves a three-second lowering phase, one-second hold at the bottom, one-second lifting phase, and a two-second hold at the top.
2) Feet Elevated / Weighted Inverted Row
For those who are looking to increase the intensity of the inverted row, consider elevating the feet and / or add weight.
For these progressions, simply place the feet on a bench or box and position a weight plate on the chest before performing a set of rows.
Inverted Row Alternatives
1) Knee Bent Inverted Row
As the name suggests, for this variation, instead of keeping the legs entirely straight, bend both knees to 90 degrees.
This seemingly small alteration will change the dynamic of the movement, reduce the range of motion, increase stability and place the body in a more mechanically advantageous position.
2) TRX Inverted Row
The TRX is a highly functional bodyweight trainer. If you do not have access to the squat rack or Smith’s machine, the TRX can step in.
While holding onto both handles, walk the feet forward so that you lean backward and replicate the position of the inverted row. From there, perform a standard set of rows.
3) Chest Supported Row
The chest supported is an excellent alternative that will effectively target the back and shoulder muscles while providing spinal stability.
For this, set a bench of a slight incline and lie directly on top of it. Reach down, grasp the weight and perform a rowing action.
Final Word
The inverted row is a simple yet highly effective bodyweight exercise that can lead to substantial improvements in back strength, size, and contractility. While it is especially useful for the beginner, the inverted row can also be highly valuable for the advanced lifter.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
*Images courtesy of Envato
References
1 – Youdas, James W.; Keith, Julianne M.; Nonn, Danielle E.; Squires, Adam C.; Hollman, John H. (2016-07). “Activation of Spinal Stabilizers and Shoulder Complex Muscles During an Inverted Row Using a Portable Pull-up Device and Body Weight Resistance”. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 30 (7): 1933–1941. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000001210. ISSN 1533-4287. PMID 26422610.
2 -SCHOENFELD, BRAD J.; CONTRERAS, BRET; KRIEGER, JAMES; GRGIC, JOZO; DELCASTILLO, KENNETH; BELLIARD, RAMON; ALTO, ANDREW (2019-1). “Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men”. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 51 (1): 94–103. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764. ISSN 0195-9131. PMC 6303131. PMID 30153194.
3 – Burd, Nicholas A; Andrews, Richard J; West, Daniel WD; Little, Jonathan P; Cochran, Andrew JR; Hector, Amy J; Cashaback, Joshua GA; Gibala, Martin J; Potvin, James R; Baker, Steven K; Phillips, Stuart M (2012-01-15). “Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men”. The Journal of Physiology. 590 (Pt 2): 351–362. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200. ISSN 0022-3751. PMC 3285070. PMID 22106173.
Best Time To Workout During The Day For The Best Results
Finding the right time to workout should be conducive to your schedule, but is there a better time to get your workout done for the best results?
We all know we need to get that valuable workout in for our day to feel complete, but many of us wonder when the best time to do it is. It works as a double edged sword for us, meaning our days are filled with work, relationships, personal time, and a host of errands we need to get done, but yet we know we must slide a workout in there somewhere. On the other hand, if there is a better time to get a workout in, shouldn’t we aim to do it then? Since we all want the best growth possible for ourselves, it can be challenging to make all of this work. While 24 hours in a day seems like a lot, it certainly fills up quicker than most of us would like.
While this topic is widely debated by athletes, fitness and nutrition experts, and everyday gym-goers alike, the answer may simply be as subjective as everyone thinks. For those morning folks, it would make sense to get it done earlier in the day for the best effects. This may help them kickstart their day and get that workout of the way. For those who just can’t seem to pull it together in the morning, then an afternoon or evening workout may better suit you. Regardless of your preference, it is important to squeeze a workout into your day for the crazy positive benefits it can do for you.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of working out in the morning, afternoon, or evening and potentially come up with our own conclusion. For those who have a set schedule and are looking for a change, this may help you greatly. For those with a strict schedule who may refuse to change, it never hurts to see the other side.
Benefits Of A Morning Workout
Working out in the morning can be a great way to start your day. After a long, good night’s sleep of hopefully at least 8 hours, your body is primed and ready to tackle whatever challenge the day may bring. A morning workout can fill your body with endorphins, those feel good hormones, which are produced when your heart rate rises and you’re in good spirits. These will not only help improve your mood, but also aid in raising your energy levels so you can take that workout head on (1).
Giving you a great boost of energy in the morning can wake you up without the need for a 20-ounce coffee that’s just full of jitters and an incoming crash. A morning workout can also kickstart your metabolism into gear so you run more efficiently throughout the day and burn more calories to aid in weight loss and that desired physique.
Benefits Of An Afternoon Workout
For those of us who can squeeze a workout in during a lunch break or find time in the afternoon, this can be a real beneficial hour or two to reset during the day and unwind from work or certain stressors we started our day with. With higher hormone levels in the afternoon and easier muscle functionality, you will be more warmed up from the hours before and time spent moving and fueling your body (2). By taking time to work out during the afternoon, you work to regulate your appetite and improve sleep as it gets closer to the evening and time you typically will wind down. Taking a break mid-day can reduce levels of stress and anxiety and offer your mind a reprieve from the hard work you’ve put in hours before.
This can be the most challenging time to work out because our days are often full to begin with, let alone those meetings or calls that pop up that can really throw us out of whack. Time is valuable as is a workout but sometimes the two just don’t mesh.
Benefits Of An Evening Workout
While working out at night can be challenging, there are certain benefits you may not get from the other times in the day. An evening workout can see muscles grow faster because you won’t be as hindered by cortisol as you are in the morning. You won’t go to sleep hungry and with a great protein supplement, you will feel full and aid in that recovery as you sleep. You also will help your weight loss goals by not snacking late night. With more fuel from the day, you will have more energy and will want to work out longer and an evening workout can serve as a nice way to get all the frustration of the day out of your system (3).
This can be a challenging time to workout especially with so many shows and things to binge. After a hard day the last thing you may want to do is work harder physically, but the benefits are too great to ignore.
Which Is Best?
While there is evidence for all of these times, it is ultimately a preference. For a great energy boost, a morning workout can be great. A mid-day stress reliver may draw you toward an afternoon workout. A nice way to unwind and build muscle may convince you to change to an evening one. In the end, it is dependent on your schedule and what you can fit in your day.
Wrap Up
Finding time to work out can be challenging but we know we need to. With our days full of activities, there may be some days we just don’t have the energy to lace up and get it done. Look into rearranging your schedule and finding those holes where you can best fit a workout in. You know you need it, you know you’ll love the results, and you know how confident you’ll be in making it happen.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
*Images courtesy of Envato
References
Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (2019). “Morning exercise can improve decision-making across the day in older adults”. (source)
Chtourou, Hamdi; Souissi, Nizar (2012). “The effect of training at a specific time of day: a review”. (source)
Seo, Dae Yun; Lee, SungRyul; Kim, Nari; Ko, Kyung Soo; et al. (2013). “Morning and evening exercise”. (source)