Too much Variations in workouts can hinder results

Variation is probably the most misunderstood principle of training. There are a variety of commercialized training methods that promote constant variation to keep your body guessing. While this is true in principal, too much variation in training leads to mediocre results. To compound the problem, the amount of variation of these training methods doesn’t fit the training level of the athlete.

The first misconception with variation is that you need to change the lifts you are doing from workout to workout or week to week. Variation should be achieved through changes in set and rep schemes and the weight lifted in relation to the athlete’s 1 repetition max. This does not mean change set and rep schemes so often that you are not maximizing the results from training one fitness parameter. The best way to achieve variation for most athletes is to change the weight lifted week to week. An anecdotal example is that competitive weightlifters use the same lifts multiple times a week and sometimes in the same day. These individuals constantly make physiological adaptations and enhance performance. The Olympic lifts these athletes train with are proven to greatly enhance vertical jump height, sprint speed, cutting ability, and reduce injuries. The point is that much less variation produces superior results than commercialized training methods and those that some trainers promote to increase athletic performance.

A recent form of variation that has become popular is daily undulating periodization. The fitness focus each day of the week is different. An example is on Monday the focus is on strength, on Wednesday the focus is strength endurance, and on Friday the focus is power. In theory this way of training should produce great results in all facets of athletic fitness. The reality is that you never make optimal gains in one fitness area or the other. The fitness focus should last anywhere from 4 to 10 weeks. This allows the athlete to maximize the gains in a fitness parameter and then change to another parameter while maintaining the previous fitness focus. This allows time for the athlete to become desensitized to the stimulus and when the training is focused again on previous fitness parameters adaptations can continue.

Variation should be low for athletes that have a beginner training status. Remember that just because an athlete is at the college or pro level does not mean that their training status is advanced. In my personal experience and talking to other strength coaches, advanced trained athletes are extremely rare at even the college level. With this in mind, the amount of variation for the majority of athletes should be low to moderate. So how much variation is low to moderate? I recommend to start with as little variation as possible to keep the athlete engaged in training and see what the results are. If the results are good stay with the same amount of variation until results begin to fall off.
Beginner trained athletes can achieve gains independent of variation and the amount of weight lifted. The focus for these athletes should be acquisition of appropriate form across a variety of lifts and sport movements. Even a focus on a specific fitness parameter for these athletes should be avoided because they will make gains and training for a fitness parameter requires 1 repetition max test.

 These facts show that variation should be low. As an athlete becomes more and more trained variation needs to increase substantially while focusing on one fitness parameter and maintaining the others.
These ideas shouldn’t be confined to the weightroom. Agility and speed training needs to be structured in respect to the principle of variation. Too much variation limits results, especially in respect to agility. A topic I will cover in a later blog is structure of agility and motor control and learning. Avoidance of too much variation will enhance the learning and appropriate development of agility.

Athletes need to be wary of commercialized fitness methods that suggest they ‘need to keep the body guessing’. Athletes need training that is backed by science and not selling a product. An issue that I did not cover is that these programs do not allow times for recovery and are rampant with overtraining syndrome. I do think some of these fitness methods are good for the general public because they get people doing more than nothing but are not appropriate for athletic performance.

Valentine's Massage?

Here are a couple home made massage oil ideas that you can easily mix up and be used to treat someone with a relaxing and comforting massage... So take it easy and let the stress out work out the kinks and aches and enjoy the day.




 Very Basic Very Effective Oil Mix
Your carrier oil should be Sweet Almond oil or Jojoba.
5 teaspoons sweet almond oil
3 drops of geranium essential oil
2 drops rose essential oil
1 drop black pepper oil

OR
Use one tablespoon of jojoba oil, and one tablespoon of sweet almond oil as your base.
Add to your base:
4 drops of sandalwood essential oil
4 drops of lavender essential oil
4 drops of jasmine

This massage oil has a mind calming effect. The result is an oil that will calm the subject, eliminate the noise mental processes, allowing them to enjoy the moment.

or experiment around with some different ideas until you find somthing that is right for you.

Healthy Gourmet Meal Ideas

Adding to our diverse blog, HEALTHY GOURMET MEALS.... Its tough to be dead set on a diet eating bland foods, we all want to treat ourselves once in a while so here is a start of many great, healthy, modest calorie meals, that are completely gourmet and will knock you out in flavor.

Roast Tenderloin with Merlot Blackberry Sauce

Servings = 4 | Serving size =2 tablespoons sauce with 4 ounces beef
Cooking Time = 60 Minutes

BEST SERVED WITH: Asparagus, Squash, Zuchini, Roasted Tomatoes, or a small portion of Wild Rice and Yams

Ingredients List

2 cups	merlot
1	pint fresh blackberries
1 cup	low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp	salt
1/8 tsp	fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp	dried thyme
2 Tbsp	maple syrup
2 Tbsp	light spread (like Promise Buttery Spread Light or Smart Balance Light)
4	4 ounce tenderloin filets
	spray olive or grapeseed oil
1/4 tsp	salt
	fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

Place the merlot, blackberries, chicken stock, salt, pepper, thyme and maple syrup in a medium stainless or non-reactive sauce pan. Place the pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Use a potato masher or a slotted spoon to gently mash all of the blackberries. Cook on simmer for another 15 minutes.

Strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer. Press down with a rubber spatula to remove all the liquid. Discard the pulp and seeds.

Rinse the sauce pan and return the strained sauce. Simmer for another 15 minutes until reduced by half. There should be about 1/2 to 2/3 cup sauce. Add 2 tablespoons Promise Buttery Spread Light and whisk until dissolved. Set aside.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When hot spray lightly with the oil and add the filets. Sprinkle the tops lightly with the salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 – 7 minute and turn. Cook for another 5 minutes for rare to medium rare.

Serve topped with 2 tablespoons warm sauce.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Serving size = about 2 tablespoons sauce with 4 ounces beef
Servings = 4

Amount Per Serving

Calories 380	Calories from Fat 117
	% Daily Value

Total Fat 13g	20%
Saturated Fat 4g	22%
Monounsaturated Fat 5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 81mg	27%
Sodium 545mg	23%
Total Carbohydrates 17g	6%
Dietary Fiber 4g	15%
Sugars 6g
Protein 27g

Vitamin A 8%	Vitamin C 26%
Calcium 7%	Iron 23%
Vitamin K 21 mcg	Potassium 720 mg
Magnesium 56 mg

Diverse Diet Equals Better Sleep Quality

If you're eating the same foods all the time, there's a chance your nighttime slumber might be suffering. A study published in the journal Appetite found that regularly getting too little or too much sleep was associated with less variety in food choices.

Researchers analyzed answers to the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and determined that daily nutrient intake might be influencing sleep quality. Subjects with the healthiest sleep patterns also consumed the widest variety of food types.

Because of the important role sleep plays in recovery and rebuilding from the breakdown of exercise, don't get stuck in an endless cycle of oatmeal, skinless chicken breast, sweet potatoes and tuna. All those foods are fine, but mixing in a colorful assortment of fresh garden vegetables can add a range of micronutrients to your diet while introducing some different tastes to that 'same old, same old' flavor profile.


Switch it up and Start getting the Sleeps you deserve from working so hard!

IIFYM Dieting

IIFYM (IF IT FITS YOUR MACROS) dieting is becoming very popular as of recent. It is a fairly straight-forward approach to losing weight that is very common amongst athletes and bodybuilders. The basic outline of the diet is that you may eat almost whatever you want, AS LONG as you have hit your targets for your macro-nutrients by the end of the day. These macro-nutrients are protein, fat, and carbs. How to determine your target numbers for these macro-nutrients depends on things such as your specific goals and activity levels.

Take into account: 
a gram of fat is 9 calories
a gram of protein is 4 calories
a gram of carbs is 4 calories

For example, when I tried this diet, I set myself the targets of 200 grams of protein, 75 grams of fat, and 175 grams of carbs. Using the given values above, this would amount to approximately 2175 calories. The goal is to eat what you like but track your intake of these macros. Once you hit any of these gram goals, you must then ONLY consume foods that will allow you to hit the remaining goals.

IIFYM has proven to be an intellectual approach to dieting but the problem is that you may lose focus on things such as vitamins and minerals, which are also important. Therefore, it is suggested to take some sort of multi-vitamin and BCAA supplement aswell.

Introduction to TABATA training

Tabata training has became very popular over the last year.. It benefits those who don't like to be in the gym lifting big weights, and want to focus on more body wieght, and improving one's current self, without building or adding on, just fine tuning and getting the most of what you already have.

How did Tabata come about?
Tabata was founded by a Japanese scientist named Izumi Tabata and fellow colleagues at a department of physiology in Japan. Izumi and his fellow scientists decided to conduct a study to compare moderate intensity training with high intensity training.
He conducted the tests on 2 groups of athletes; 1 of the groups used the moderate intensity interval training and the other using high intensity interval training.
In group one; the athletes were training in moderate intensity workouts (70% intensity) for five days a week for a total of six weeks with each training session lasting an hour.
Group two trained in the high intensity workouts for 4 days a week for a total of 6 weeks with each session lasting 4 minutes, at 20 seconds of intense training (170% intensity) and 10 seconds of rest.

What were the results of the tests?

Group 1 had a significant increase in the aerobic system (cardiovascular system). However, the anaerobic system (muscles) gained little or no results at all.
Group 2 showed much improvement in all their athletes. Their aerobic systems increased much more than group ones, and their anaerobic systems increased by 28%.
Conclusion? Not only did high intensity interval training have more of an impact on the aerobic systems; it had an impact on the anaerobic systems as well.

So what does a basic Tabata training design look like?

Any exercise can be incorporated into the Tabata training. However the basic outline of the Tabata training method are as follows:
•     4 minutes long (whole Tabata Session)
•     20 seconds of intense training
•     10 seconds of rest
•     Total of 8 sessions or rounds

5 hours of cardio in 90 minutes!

Maybe you don't exactly look forward to cardio day, but you want the cardiovascular conditioning and weight management benefits that running, cycling and swimming offer.

A study published in the Journal of Physiology suggests that you can get the equivalent benefits 5 hours of steady state running provide in just 90 minutes using a combination of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Sprint Interval Training (SIT).
SIT is performed on a stationary bike by sprinting all-out for 30 seconds followed by 4½ minutes of slow paced active recovery. A good starting point is 4 to 6 sets.

You can use the same stationary bike to perform HIIT which typically involves 15 to 60 second bursts of power followed by 2 to 4 minutes of low-intensity pedaling. Researchers suggest that 3 sessions of SIT and/or HIIT totaling 90 minutes per week provides the same quality of training you'd get with 5 hours of steady state cardio. Mix it up and move between these variations on different weeks.

"Homegrown Workout"

Patrick Willis is a prime example of hard work paying off. In this video he talks about his journey to the NFL and the creative training techniques that helped him get stronger along the way. Willis lead his team in tackles in Super Bowl XLVII despite losing the game. He has become one of the hardest hitters to ever play in the linebacker position, this link tells us why.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P80QOkHjmc