Ah, the Bench Press… the most common exercise for working and building development of the chest.  For both Men and Women alike, a tighter more developed chest is often desired.  However after so many weeks, months, and years of training, we often hit that proverbial wall and stop gaining results in the pectoral region.  How do we avoid stalemate in creating a masterful chest?

VARIETY, VARIETY, VARIETY

Never lose sight of all the variety, angles and degrees this muscle can be targeted; heavy weight, light weight, incline, decline, but let’s not forget how WIDE and expansive our variations can be.

Adding a Wide Grip to your Press can provide a jolt back on the fast track to stimulating this highly sought after showcased muscle.  Not to mention the intensity it brings from your Delt and Tricep tie-ins as well.

WHAT and WHY TARGETED:

PECTORALIS MAJOR-  Targeting the pectoralis major muscle, the wide grip press is an intensive exercise primarily to the lateral or outer chest fibers.  This popularly large muscle is the prime mover of arm (more…)

Burning Calories while you sleep

We breathe every second of every day.  Our hearts perpetually pump blood, our bodies maintain constant body temperature, and many other involuntary functions are performed 24 hours a day.  These functions require calories to be expended, producing the energy our bodies need to survive.  Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the minimum amount of calories necessary to survive in your most restful state.  Put another way, the BMR is the minimum amount of calories needed for a person to remain asleep all day.  It accounts for 60-75% of total calories on a daily basis.  Every individual’s BMR is different because no two people have exactly the same genetic blueprint, are the same age, height or weight, have the same daily activity level, have the same body composition, or are the same gender.   These personal factors assist in determining your individual BMR, and therefore help determine the amount of calories required to lose, maintain, or even gain weight.

Restrictive eating doesn’t work

Some determinants lower your basal metabolic rate while others raise it.  Unfortunately we lose muscle mass as we age, which lowers our BMR because muscle demands more calories than fat to maintain itself.  This is why resistance training is important to maintaining a healthy weight as we age.  Also, fasting and “extreme” diets that require drastic caloric reductions lower your BMR because your body is likely to go into a state of starvation and cannibalize itself when it doesn’t receive the necessary calories from the food you consume.  That’s right, your body will resource its own muscle tissue to get to the calories it needs to perform its required functions.  A gradual reduction of calories (or better yet, greater quality) and an increase in exercise long term is the most effective and proven method to properly lose weight and keep it off.

Start by knowing your current BMR to understand (more…)