Insidious misconceptions about fats
Published March 17, 2011 | 
There is a lot of confusion around fats. On the one hand, it is an essential component of food, along with carbohydrates and protein. On the other, it’s a frankly harmful component! Let’s clear everything up …
Bodybuilders have always considered fats as their main enemy. The science has made an adjustment: some fats can help the muscle growth. Moreover, there are fats that help to lose weight!
FATS DO NOT PLAY A BIG ROLE IN THE MUSCLE GROWTH. NO!
The science says that under the action of physical exercises the body first spends glycogen and only then takes up fat. However, later the scholars have made important clarification to this postulate. We are talking about saturated fats, from which, basically, are composed fat deposits. These fats are very reluctant to burn in the furnace of metabolism. If you eat mostly unsaturated fats, the body begins to “burn” them almost immediately. This gives significant savings in glycogen. Thus, the unsaturated fats are pushing the time of muscle fatigue and help to train hard and long. In addition, the unsaturated fats improve the transmission of the nerve signals in the brain. If the diet is suffering a deficit of the unsaturated fats, then after the training the athlete feels a strong mental fatigue.
SATURATED FATS ARE HARMFUL. NO!
Men need saturated fats because they are the “raw material” for the production of testosterone. If for reasons of health banish from the diet all the saturated fats and replace them with unsaturated, the testosterone level in the blood will drop sharply. However, the same effect will appear with the high content of saturated fats in the diet. The rule “the more, the better” with regard to the saturated fats does not work. The organism produces on a daily basis the same amount of testosterone that is genetically programmed, so that saturated fats are to be in the same small amount. The increase in the intake of such fats does not lead to the stimulation of hormone secretion and production of additional testosterone.
Excess in the saturated fats in the diet is definitely harmful. From this rule there is only one exception, and it is called triglycerides with the medium chain length MCL. While we are talking about saturated fats that the body considers useless and therefore lays beneath the skin, MCL immediately go into action. They become a kind of energy “fuel” for exercises, being doubly remarkable, because when burned they form ketones, the compounds that protect muscle tissues from decay. There is a scientific evidence that MCL fats accelerate metabolism and contribute to the combustion of fat. In addition, MCL strengthen the immune system. Experts advise bodybuilders to take 1-2 tablespoons of these fats 1-4 times a day. It is necessary to begin with tiny doses, to accustom your intestines to the new fats.
Strength and weakness of our joints
Published March 17, 2011 | At this time in our conversation is involved Oleg Emelyanov, the absolute champion of Russia, one of the brightest Russian bodybuilders – heavyweights. According to the experts, Oleg has a remarkably proportionate figure and huge potential. The topic of our conversation for today is one of the most important for bodybuilding – joint pain.
- Do you have any problems with joints?
Oleg: – Yes, there were some problems. Heavy loads and improper trainings of the past years have led to pain in the joints, especially in the knees, especially because I always work with heavy weights.
Sergey: – I had the same thing. When I began to exercise fifteen years ago in Saratov, I had very vague ideas about proper trainings. But I was young, my strength of beating over the edge, so the joint problems began later. And only in Moscow when I’ve entered the club “Olimp”, I learned that many things were done in a wrong way.
Mikhail Golovnev’s commentary. The main thing in the joints is avoidance of their injuries and preventive measures and if the pain appears, then stop and analyze what you did wrong, consult with specialists – a coach, a doctor – to see exactly what you need to change.
The fact is that 90% of the joint pain is caused by the failure to comply with basic rules which are very simple. It is very important! You must first eliminate the reasons that cause pain.
Very often, those who exercise neglect the workout. Workout is a must! And these are not jump-slopes, but an elaborate system of stretching, stretching the muscles, which increases their elasticity and prepare not only for safe but also effective work: the stretched muscles provide an increased range of motion, and this enhances the driving influence on it. Then, carefully think about increasing the workloads. Young athletes have a rapid muscle growth that outstrips the growth of joints, so appears the risk of their rupture with excessive weights. Wrong rest and meals at high weights may result in the incomplete restoration of the articular tissues – and then to the problems of which we speak today.
The unjustified desire to increase the working weights is a common psychological error that hides the ignorance of the proper technique of exercises, and in fact the correct technique allows even with little weights to get a much greater result than cheating at a full load. Cheating necessarily leads to a distortion of the exercises and techniques that is to injury. Proper technique is important. The slightest shift of the axis of the load under a heavy weight can lead to serious consequences. The most vulnerable joints are knees, elbows, shoulders and wrist. Be sure to bandage them when working with heavy weights.
Well, then, do not forget what I have already said: no training, if your joints ache! Only after their complete recovery start training again but slowly and carefully. And the recovery time is as long as serious is the injury – it can take from six to twelve months!
Loading a large group of muscles
Published March 17, 2011 | Today in bodybuilding split is the ruling system. According to this method, during one training you load only two, maybe three muscles. Well, but how to combine them? It is believed that the best way is to train one large muscle group and one small assisting muscle together. For example, chest and triceps. And the first thing is to load the large group of muscles. If you start with a small muscle-assistant, then it gets tired and the impact of the exercise on chest will fall. In addition, you must not combine the training of two large muscle groups, such as chest and back. Those and other exercises overload the muscles of the shoulder girdle and therefore the effectiveness of the training of the second group will surely suffer. The scientists have conducted an experiment that helped to verify these allegations.
In search of truth
Two dozen of builders have participated in the experiments, which were to show the effect of various sequences of exercises on the muscle strength. In the first series of experiments, the bodybuilders were doing a bench press and after it they were pulling up on the block, bench press, lifting the biceps and French press. In the second series of experiments, the sequence was reversed: the bench press was performed as a second exercise of the pair. The muscle strength was measured by the number of repeats in the first set.
REMEMBER!
As can be seen from the figure, the bench press in any case is to be done first of all. The pectorals have shown maximum strength only at the first workout. As for the back muscles, then they, contrary to the forecasts, are not dependent on the order of exercises. It turns out that chest and back can be trained together without any loss. But it is important to comply with one condition – the chest is to be loaded first of all. Triceps and biceps, as well do not show any loss of power in any order of training. But with the delta everything is exactly as with chest. If at first you do it lying down and then sitting down, the deltas lose their strength. So, it turns out that chest and deltas are not to be combined. If the first goes the bench press, the seated bench press will suffer, and vice versa.
This chart shows an average the number of repetitions, that the athletes have managed to do in the first set of the exercise, when it followed the bench press [1st training] or was the first (2nd training).