Friday, 31 July 2015
Thursday, 30 July 2015
The Power of Sleep III
GARBAGEMEN FOR YOUR BRAIN
“I was nervous when I went to my first sleep conference,”
says Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, the chatty and inquisitive co-director of the
Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester. “I was
not trained in sleep, and I came to it from the outside.” In fact, as a busy
mother and career woman, she saw sleep the way most of us probably do: as a
bother. “Every single night, I wanted to accomplish more and enjoy time with my
family, and I was annoyed to have to go to bed.”
Because she’s a neuroscientist, however, Nedergaard was inclined
to ask a seemingly basic question: Why do our brains need sleep at all? There
are two competing evolutionary theories. One is that sleeping organisms are
immobile and therefore less likely to be easy targets, so perhaps sleep
provided some protection from prey. The time slumbering, however, took away
from time spent finding food and reproducing. Another points out that sleeping
organisms are oblivious to creeping predators, making them ripe for attack.
Since both theories seem to put us at a disadvantage, Nedergaard thought there
had to be some other reason the brain needs those hours offline.
All organs in the body use energy, and in the process, they
spew out waste. Most take care of their garbage with an efficient local system,
recruiting immune cells like macrophages to gobble up the garbage and break it
down or linking up to the network of vessels that make up the lymph system, the
body’s drainage pipes.
The brain is a tremendous consumer of energy, but it’s not
blanketed in lymph vessels. So how does it get rid of its trash? “If the brain
is not functioning optimally, you’re dead evolutionarily, so there must be an
advantage to exporting the garbage to a less critical organ like the liver to
take care of it,” says Nedergaard.
Indeed, that’s what her research shows. She found that an
army of previously ignored cells in the brain, called glial cells, turn into a
massive pump when the body sleeps. During the day, glial cells are the unsung
personal assistants of the brain. They cannot conduct electrical impulses like
other neurons, but they support them as they send signals zipping along nerve
networks to register a smell here and an emotion there. For decades, they were
dismissed by neuroscientists because they weren’t the actual drivers of neural
connections.
But Nedergaard found in clinical trials on mice that glial
cells change as soon as organisms fall asleep. The difference between the
waking and sleeping brain is dramatic. When the brain is awake, it resembles a
busy airport, swelling with the cumulative activity of individual messages
traveling from one neuron to another. The activity inflates the size of brain
cells until they take up 86% of the brain’s volume.
When daylight wanes and we eventually fall asleep, however,
those glial cells kick into action, slowing the brain’s electrical activity to
about a third of its peak frequency. During those first stages of sleep, called
non-REM (rapid eye movement), the firing becomes more synchronized rather than
haphazard. The repetitive cycle lulls the nerves into a state of quiet, so in
the next stage, known as REM, the firing becomes almost nonexistent. The brain
continues to toggle back and forth between non-REM and REM sleep throughout the
night, once every hour and a half.
At the same time, the sleeping brain’s cells shrink, making
more room for the brain and spinal cord’s fluid to slosh back and forth between
them. “It’s like a dishwasher that keeps flushing through to wash the dirt
away,” says Nedergaard. This cleansing also occurs in the brain when we are
awake, but it’s reduced by about 15%, since the glial cells have less fluid
space to work with when the neurons expand.
This means that when we don’t get enough sleep, the glial
cells aren’t as efficient at clearing the brain’s garbage. That may push
certain degenerative brain disorders that are typical of later life to appear
much earlier.
Both Nedergaard’s and Veasey’s work also hint at why older
brains are more prone to developing Alzheimer’s, which is caused by a buildup
of amyloid protein that isn’t cleared quickly enough.
“There is much less flow to clear away things in the aging
brain,” says Nedergaard. “The garbage system picks up every three weeks instead
of every week.” And like any growing pile of trash, the molecular garbage
starts to affect nearby healthy cells, interfering with their ability to form
and recall memories or plan even the simplest tasks.
The consequences of deprived sleep, says Dr. Mary Carskadon,
professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, are “scary,
really scary.”
RIGHTSIZING YOUR SLEEP
All this isn’t actually so alarming, since there’s a simple
fix that can stop this nerve die-off and slow the brain’s accelerated ride
toward aging. What’s needed, says Carskadon, is a rebranding of sleep that
strips away any hint of its being on the sidelines of our health.
As it is, sleep is so undervalued that getting by on fewer
hours has become a badge of honor. Plus, we live in a culture that caters to
the late-nighter, from 24-hour grocery stores to online shopping sites that
never close. It’s no surprise, then, that more than half of American adults
don’t get the recommended seven to nine hours of shut-eye every night.
Whether or not we can catch up on sleep–on the weekend,
say–is a hotly debated topic among sleep researchers; the latest evidence
suggests that while it isn’t ideal, it might help. When Liu, the UCLA sleep
researcher and professor of medicine, brought chronically sleep-restricted
people into the lab for a weekend of sleep during which they logged about 10
hours per night, they showed improvements in the ability of insulin to process
blood sugar. That suggests that catch-up sleep may undo some but not all of the
damage that sleep deprivation causes, which is encouraging given how many
adults don’t get the hours they need each night. Still, Liu isn’t ready to
endorse the habit of sleeping less and making up for it later. “It’s like
telling people you only need to eat healthy during the weekends, but during the
week you can eat whatever you like,” he says. “It’s not the right health
message.”
Sleeping pills, while helpful for some, are not necessarily
a silver bullet either. “A sleeping pill will target one area of the brain, but
there’s never going to be a perfect sleeping pill, because you couldn’t really
replicate the different chemicals moving in and out of different parts of the
brain to go through the different stages of sleep,” says Dr. Nancy Collop,
director of the Emory University Sleep Center. Still, for the 4% of Americans
who rely on prescription sleep aids, the slumber they get with the help of a
pill is better than not sleeping at all or getting interrupted sleep. At this
point, it’s not clear whether the brain completes the same crucial housekeeping
duties during medicated sleep as it does during natural sleep, and the
long-term effects on the brain of relying on sleeping pills aren’t known
either.
Making things trickier is the fact that we are unaware of
the toll sleep deprivation takes on us. Studies consistently show that people
who sleep less than eight hours a night don’t perform as well on concentration
and memory tests but report feeling no deficits in their thinking skills. That
just perpetuates the tendency to dismiss sleep and its critical role in everything
from our mental faculties to our metabolic health.
The ideal is to reset the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle, a
matter of training our bodies to sleep similar amounts every night and wake up
at roughly the same time each day. An even better way to rediscover our natural
cycle is to get as much exposure to natural light as possible during the day,
while limiting how much indoor lighting, including from computer and television
screens, we see at night. And of course, the best way to accomplish that is by
making those seven to nine hours of sleep a must–not a luxury.
“I am now looking at and thinking of sleep as an
‘environmental exposure,'” says Brown University’s Carskadon–which means we
should look at sleep similarly to how we view air-pollution exposure,
secondhand smoke or toxins in our drinking water. If she and other researchers
have their way, checking up on sleep would be a routine part of any physical
exam, and doctors would ask about our sleep habits in the same way they query
us about diet, stress, exercise, our sex life, our eyesight–you name it. And if
we aren’t sleeping enough, they might prescribe a change, just as they would
for any other bad health habit.
Some physicians are already taking the initiative, but no
prescription works unless we actually take it. If our work schedule cuts into
our sleep time, we need to make the sleep we get count by avoiding naps and
exercising when we can during the day; feeling tired will get us to fall asleep
sooner. If we need help dozing off, gentle exercises or yoga-type stretching
can also help. Creating a sleep ritual can make sleep something we look forward
to rather than something we feel obligated to do, so we’re more likely to get
our allotted time instead of skipping it. A favorite book, a warm bath or other
ways to get drowsy might prompt us to actually look forward to unwinding at the
end of the day.
Given what scientists are learning about how much the
body–and especially the brain–needs a solid and consistent amount of sleep,
in-the-know doctors aren’t waiting for more studies to prove what we as a
species know intuitively: that cheating ourselves of sleep is depriving us from
taking advantage of one of nature’s most powerful drugs.
“We now know that there is a lasting price to pay for sleep
loss,” says Veasey. “We used to think that if you don’t sleep enough, you can
sleep more and you’ll be fine tomorrow. We now know if you push the system
enough, that’s simply not true.”
http://time.com/3326565/the-power-of-sleep/
Wednesday, 29 July 2015
The Power of Sleep II
THE CONSEQUENCES OF SKIMPING
Despite how great we feel after a night’s rest–and putting
aside what we now know about sleep’s importance–we stubbornly refuse to swallow
our medicine, pushing off bedtime and thinking that feeling a little drowsy
during the day is an annoying but harmless consequence. It’s not. Nearly 40% of
adults have nodded off unintentionally during the day in the past month, and 5%
have done so while driving. Insomnia or interrupted sleep nearly doubles the
chances that workers will call in sick. And half of Americans say their uneven
sleep makes it harder to concentrate on tasks.
Those poor sleep habits are trickling down to the next
generation: 45% of teens don’t sleep the recommended nine hours on school
nights, leading 25% of them to report falling asleep in class at least once a
week, according to a National Sleep Foundation survey. It’s a serious enough
problem that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently endorsed the idea of
starting middle and high schools later to allow for more adolescent shut-eye.
Health experts have been concerned about our sleep-deprived
ways for some time, but the new insights about the role sleep plays in our
overall health have brought an urgency to the message. Sleep, the experts are
recognizing, is the only time the brain has to catch its breath. If it doesn’t,
it may drown in its own biological debris–everything from toxic free radicals
produced by hard-working fuel cells to spent molecules that have outlived their
usefulness.
“We all want to push the system, to get the most out of our
lives, and sleep gets in the way,” says Dr. Sigrid Veasey, a leading sleep
researcher and a professor of medicine at Perelman School of Medicine at the
University of Pennsylvania. “But we need to know how far we can really push
that system and get away with it.”
Veasey is learning that brain cells that don’t get their
needed break every night are like overworked employees on consecutive double
shifts–eventually, they collapse. Working with mice, she found that neurons
that fire constantly to keep the brain alert spew out toxic free radicals as a
by-product of making energy. During sleep, they produce antioxidants that mop
up these potential poisons. But even after short periods of sleep loss, “the
cells are working hard but cannot make enough antioxidants, so they
progressively build up free radicals and some of the neurons die off.” Once
those brain cells are gone, they’re gone for good.
After several weeks of restricted sleep, says Veasey, the
mice she studied–whose brains are considered a good proxy for human brains in
lab research–“are more likely to be sleepy when they are supposed to be active
and have more difficulty consolidating [the benefits of] sleep during their
sleep period.”
It’s the same thing that happens in aging brains, she says,
as nerve cells get less efficient at clearing away their garbage. “The real
question is: What are we doing to our brains if we don’t get enough sleep? If
we chronically sleep-deprive ourselves, are we really aging our brains?” she
asks. Ultimately, the research suggests, it’s possible that a sleep-deprived
brain belonging to a teen or a 20-year-old will start to look like that of a
much older person.
“Chronic sleep restriction is a stress on the body,” says
Dr. Peter Liu, professor of medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and L.A.
Biomedical Research Institute. And the cause of that sleep deprivation doesn’t
always originate in family strife, financial concerns or job-related problems.
The way we live now–checking our phones every minute, hyperscheduling our days
or our kids’ days, not taking time to relax without a screen in front of our
faces–contributes to a regular flow of stress hormones like cortisol, and all
that artificial light and screen time is disrupting our internal clocks. Simply
put, our bodies don’t know when to go to sleep naturally anymore.
This is why researchers hope their new discoveries will
change once and for all the way we think about–and prioritize–those 40 winks.
http://time.com/3326565/the-power-of-sleep/
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
The Power of Sleep I
The Power of Sleep
New research shows a good night's rest isn't a luxury--it's
critical for your brain and for your health
When our heads hit the pillow every night, we tend to think
we’re surrendering. Not just to exhaustion, though there is that. We’re also
surrendering our mind, taking leave of our focus on sensory cues, like noise
and smell and blinking lights. It’s as if we’re powering ourselves down like we
do the electronics at our bedside–going idle for a while, only to spring back
into action when the alarm blasts hours later.
That’s what we think is happening. But as scientists are now
revealing, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, when the lights go out, our brains start
working–but in an altogether different way than when we’re awake. At night, a
legion of neurons springs into action, and like any well-trained platoon, the
cells work in perfect synchrony, pulsing with electrical signals that wash over
the brain with a soothing, hypnotic flow. Meanwhile, data processors sort
through the reams of information that flooded the brain all day at a pace too
overwhelming to handle in real time. The brain also runs checks on itself to
ensure that the exquisite balance of hormones, enzymes and proteins isn’t too
far off-kilter. And all the while, cleaners follow in close pursuit to sweep
out the toxic detritus that the brain doesn’t need and which can cause all
kinds of problems if it builds up.
This, scientists are just now learning, is the brain on
sleep. It’s nature’s panacea, more powerful than any drug in its ability to
restore and rejuvenate the human brain and body. Getting the recommended seven
to eight hours each night can improve concentration, sharpen planning and
memory skills and maintain the fat-burning systems that regulate our weight. If
every one of us slept as much as we’re supposed to, we’d all be lighter, less
prone to developing Type 2 diabetes and most likely better equipped to battle
depression and anxiety. We might even lower our risk of Alzheimer’s disease,
osteoporosis and cancer.
The trouble is, sleep works only if we get enough of it.
While plenty of pills can knock us out, none so far can replicate all of
sleep’s benefits, despite decades’ worth of attempts in high-tech
pharmaceutical labs.
Which is why, after long treating rest as a
good-if-you-can-get-it obligation, scientists are making the case that it
matters much more than we think. They’re not alone in sounding the alarm. With
up to 70 million of us not getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers insufficient sleep a
public-health epidemic. In fact, experts argue, sleep is emerging as so potent
a factor in better health that we need a societal shift–and policies to support
it–to make sleep a non-negotiable priority.
Monday, 27 July 2015
Tips for improving cycle fitness
Tips for improving cycle fitness
A few simple tips for more efficient cycle training.
If you are new to cycling or have a very basic level of fitness, the most important thing is to spend more time on the bike. When you are unfit – the good news is that whatever you do, you will see relatively large improvements in fitness. The ‘fitter’ you become, the relatively harder it is to eke out even more fitness gains.
The first tip is simply to cycle more.
1. Cycle more
If you want to do a 100 mile ride, you will need to find more time to cycle. You will want to be doing a few 2-3 hour rides at the very least. Preferably a few 3-4 hour rides to get used to long distances. You could do a 100 mile ride on the back of one hour training rides, but your legs will be sore the next day, and you will struggle towards the end.
The trick is often finding time to be able to cycle more. If you live a busy life, a good solution is commuting by bike. This may be the whole journey or even just part of it. If you have many family commitments, you could try and cycle out to some venue and meet your family there on bike. If you have a roof rack, you can easily bring back the bike on the car. I’m sure your family won’t mind you going to a posh restaurant, whilst you are dressed in lyrca.
2. The pyramid of training intensity
Something that has served me well for the past 20 years is paying a rough attention to this pyramid of training intensity.
This is my rough training pyramid – recovery rides come under base / endurance. The division between categories are not strict. An endurance ride may merge into a ‘sweet spot’ training. If you’re not doing hill climbs, you might want to not do any level 4 max intervals at all. The point is that generally you spend more time at a lower intensity.
Most of your training will be to build up base aerobic fitness. This is a long endurance ride. If you are new to cycling, it is important to start with this endurance training. If you have been cycling, you still need to work on this endurance side.
If you are pressed for time, you may want to jettison the lowest level of easy training rides, and concentrating on more threshold / higher level types of training. But, as a rough rule of thumb, you definitely want to pay attention to both endurance and speed work.
Different types of training
When training, I try to have a specific purpose to the training. It tends to be one of these four types.
Vary Training
One mistake, people often make is just to do the same kind of training every week. When commuting it’s easy just to get into a slow gentle rhythm. Many beginners end up doing all rides at a ‘moderately hard’ level. This is fine for base training, but, if commuting is your main form of training, you should try mix it up. On alternate days, try commuting home very fast. Try different routes, which are a bit longer but give an opportunity to do some speed work. This can be a time trial to see how quickly you can cover a distance or it can be a series of intervals, finding some local hills.
If you have limited time, you will see most improvement in your cycling fitness from training at a high intensity. If you want to improve your fitness for a quicker 10 mile time trial. You need to be training at this race intensity.
Motivation to train
If you get really inspired and motivate to do hill climb intervals, the chances are this will make good training for you. I’m not a great one for getting on a turbo and sticking to HR zones and power zone. What motivates me to train is going around the countryside cycling really fast up hills. It’s not always very scientific, but it has got me quite fit! Similarly, other people may need to find like minded cyclists to go out and train with. There are others, I know who can do four hour endurance rides on a turbo!
Positive frame of mind
A big part of improving cycling fitness is having a good attitude to cycling and training. If you are in a positive frame of mind, training tends to be more effective. It will inspire you to go out even when the weather is not so good. It is important not to get discouraged by lack of perceived improvements. It can be difficult to judge your performance. If you enjoy your cycling, you will naturally want to go out and improve your fitness. It’s not just the miles you do, but your frame of mind too.
Race and targets
Having something to aim for is good. If it is a big ride in August, try to have some smaller goals on the way. When you know a big event is coming up next month, it is very good for focusing the mind and disciplining your training. The best training will also be to try and replicate what you will be doing. If you know your doing the Etape d’Tour, you need to be focused on being able to cycle 100 miles, with 3,000m of climbing.
Nutrition / Hydration
I’m not a big fan of fancy diets. It is important to take a balanced diet, based on common sense. When you are stressing your body through training, it is more important to eat good foods.
Loose Weight
Losing a few lbs makes a big difference to climbing and the enjoyment of cycling. Lose 5kgs, is going to help your cycling uphill.
Discipline vs flexibility
To improve fitness, it does require a certain discipline. We need to do different types of riding. We need to be able to push ourselves in order to stretch capacity. We also need the discipline to do recovery rides and take time for days off, when we need it. However, there is an important line between determination and obsession. Don’t panic, if you can’t meet one session. If you are tired, have the flexibility to take a day off. For some people, over-training can be as much as a problem as under-training.
Buy A Better Bike
If all else fails spend a lot of money on a more expensive and better bike. This is a very well known trick for leading to instant improvements in cycle fitness.
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Saturday, 25 July 2015
How To Do Kettlebell Lunges
How To Do Kettlebell Lunges
Lunges
Kettlebell lunges are a perfect example of how well the kettlebell can be used in various workouts. Everybody should be familiar with the basic lunge. The lunge by itself is a great way to isolate and strengthen muscles in the legs, butt, back, and core. The lunge is categorized by many as primarily an exercise movement seen in classes geared towards women. Because of this and other false mentalities lunges are often skipped in workouts. The lunge is in fact an essential movement to help strengthen the legs and other posterior chain muscles.
After the technique of a basic unweighted lunge has been perfected, it is most likely time to increase the lunge’s intensity. How can a lunge be intensified?
- Increase the amount of reps
- Increase the amount of sets
- Increase the amount of weight
One of the most obvious and easiest ways to increase the intensity of any workout is to increase the amount of reps. This type of intensity is an aerobic increase and is beneficial for all types of athletes.
This type of increase is very similar to increase the reps of a workout.
This type of intensity increase is where the kettlebells come into play in the lunge. A kettlebell is piece of gym equipment that can be quickly grabbed, used, and customized for the lunge. We recommend first started with the lightest weight in order to properly understand ones ability to do a weighted lunge.
By adding weight to a lunch, increasing the reps, and increasing the sets the kettlebell lunge becomes an intensified version of the basic lunge. Each workout using kettlebell lunges should be customized based on a person’s athleticism, strength, and mobility.
Kettlebell Lunges in Crossfit
The kettlebell lunge can sometimes be an ignored movement is some Crossfit gyms. However, the kettlebell lunge should not be overlooked. It is very beneficial in building various muscles in the body. On top of that the kettlebell lunge in and of itself has variations that can help isolate various muscles.
For example, the kettlebell lunge can be done with one or two kettlebells. They can also be done by holding the kettlebells in the hanging position near the hips, in a front rack position, or in an overhead position. Each of these various holds will isolate different muscles given an the person who is performing them added benefits in strength, mobility, and endurance.
Kettlebell Lunges for Athletes
Single-leg strength and stability are extremely important for athletes for both performance and injury reduction and thus exercises such as kettlebell lunges should be involved in your programming. If you’re strong bilaterally but can’t express this strength on one leg then you’re leaving something on the table. Almost all sports from running to throwing the javelin or swinging a golf club feature single leg or unevenly loaded movement so the benefits to athletes for single leg strength should be obvious.
Unsupported single leg work is a great way to strengthen hip stabilizers and a way to work legs without taxing the lower back too much. As noted sports performance coach at iFAST Mike Robertson states single leg work is a great way to develop stability and performance by incorporating them in your program.
Exercises such as kettlebell lunges recruit a greater amount of adductor and glute medius involvement than their bilateral counterparts. Adductor and glute strength is key in performing the lateral movements found in most ball sports. Research has demonstrated a direct relationship between adductor strength and lateral jump performance (a key indicator of athletic performance). Indeed research has also shown a significant correlation between adductor strength and proficiency in sporting movements such as the golf swing.
For those of you with a unilateral strength deficit I hope this article gives you a friendly push to start working on it. The gains in performance will be worth it.
Common Kettlebell Lunge Mistakes
While kettlebell lunges are one of the most efficient exercises you can do for your lower body, they also are one of the exercises most commonly done wrong.
So how do you not suck at this amazing exercise? By avoiding these 3 Common Mistakes!
- Bending Your Back
- Over-Extending Your Knee
- Shallow Reps
While posture is important when doing bodyweight lunges, it is even more imperative when you have kettlebells in your hands. The weight of the kettlebells will make you want to lean forward and hunch your shoulders, but don’t give in to this urge! Keep your back straight, with your shoulders pulled slightly back. If you are too tired to keep your posture upright, then you should end your set. Doing kettlebell lunges with your back bent can put a lot of unnecessary stress on your lower back, so maintain that proper form!
Regardless of what type of lunge you are doing, bodyweight/barbell/kettlebell/etc… make sure that your front leg flexes to a 90 degree angle. Letting your knee go past the line of your toes is a common mistake, and one that puts a lot of strain on the knees.
The last mistake that people make when doing kettlebell lunges is not fully executing each rep. Just as the front knee should bend to 90 degrees, so should the rear leg as you lower yourself each time. Make sure that on each and every rep you are lowering yourself until your rear knee hovers no more than an inch off the ground. The higher the rear knee, the less benefit you are getting from the exercise. So go deep, and reap the full benefit from this amazing exercise!
Thursday, 23 July 2015
7 Technique Tips for a Stronger Deadlift
7 Technique Tips for a Stronger Deadlift
1 – Set up with the bar just in front of your shins, but not touching them. When you reach down to grab the bar, your shins should touch it.
2 – To find your “perfect” foot stance, do a couple of vertical jumps, and note where your feet are when you land. Then bring your stance in slightly, and point your toes out just a little.
3 – Your hands should be just outside of your feet. You can play around a bit here to find the optimal hand placement on the bar for you.
4 – A mixed grip is the “standard” way to grip the bar (one hand facing away from you, the other facing towards you). Which hand is facing which way is a matter of personal preference. You can also deadlift with both hands facing towards you.
5 – Before you lift the bar, get the muscles in your upper back tight and pulled together, your butt down, your chest up, and your shoulders over the bar.
6 – “Ease” the bar off the ground, and initiate the movement with your legs and not your back.
7 – You can either lower the bar slowly to the start position, or you can drop it.
So there are seven technqiue tips for the deadlift that will help you lift stronger – and safer – right away. These will help you if you’re just getting started with the deadlift, or even if you’ve been doing it for a while but are still perfecting your form.
Remember, the deadlift is one of the best lifts to build “general strength” … that is, strength with carryover to a wide range of activities.
http://forestvance.com/2015/07/7-technique-tips-for-a-stronger-deadlift/
Andy at Fitter Future
new edition '10 Most Powerful Steps to Losing Weight' - still FREE at http://fitterfuture4u.com !!
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
Never Bench Press with Your Feet in This Position
Never Bench Press with Your Feet in This Position
Your arms may be the only body parts moving, but here's why you should pay attention to your feet
I don't like using the terms never, everyone or always when discussing topics related to fitness.
Why?
Because, generally, it's arcane and shortsighted. What works or doesn't work for one person should not be applied to everyone else 100 percent of the time.
RELATED: Shoulder Workouts You Can Do At Home
But I'm going to break my rule just this once: You shouldnever bench press with your feet up.
When asked why trainees (especially at the beginner and intermediate levels) should never Bench Press with their feet in the air, the cynical strength coach in me wants to answer, "Because I said so. Now stop it!"
But I do have a few legitimate reasons.
Bench Pressing with a Flat Back Is Safer?
Many personal trainers and misinformed coaches advocate performing the bench press with your feet in the air, because doing so "flattens" the lumbar (lower) spine and is thus deemed safer. For some, bench pressing with an arched back is worse than wearing white socks with dress pants or clubbing a baby seal.
Here's the kicker: The lumbar spine has a natural curve to it. It's supposed to arch!
Where things get lost in translation is when personal trainers and coaches equate "arch your back" with a cue to elite powerlifters.
Powerlifters are only concerned with two things—all-you-can-eat pizza buffets and putting their bodies in the best biomechanical position to lift as much weight as possible. Using an (extreme) arch does so by reducing the distance the bar must travel.
Most people, and especially athletes, are not competitive powerlifters, so they shouldn't get into the habit of taking things out of context and assuming that benching with an arched lower back is bad or unsafe. It's not.
NOTE: Of course, in some circumstances, even a slight arch will bother a few people. If that's the case, by all means, adjust as needed.
A Good Bench Press Requires Stability (and Tension)
I'm going to put this as gently as possible. I'm a strength coach and someone who's interested in helping people get stronger, and you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that bench pressing with your feet up in the air is a worthwhile endeavor.
It looks silly. It just does.
It comes down to physics. One of the keys to lifting big weight is tension. You not only need to be able to produce it, but maintain it. If your feet are in the air, you're less stable, which means you're less likely to produce any significant tension, which results in reduced force production.
In other words, it's going to be really, really hard to build an impressive Bench Press if you're unable to produce a lot of force.
I get it. For some trainees, it's not about building an impressive Bench Press number, but rather, a pair of pecs that can deflect bullets. It's been stated that bench pressing with the feet in the air isolates the pectoral muscles more, leading to greater muscle growth.
It's also been stated that Bigfoot exists. It's BS.
If you want a big chest, progressive overload (lifting more weight over time) should always take precedence. That's going to be hard to do if you're spending an inordinate amount of time following protocols that prevent you from doing it.
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