Website is up and Running

GO CHECK IT OUT: http://www.teenfitnessandbodybuilding.com

Website

Hey everyone. Unfortunately I have been so busy that I haven't had anytime to blog lately. I have been working on creating a website that is dedicated to health and fitness for teens. The site is still under construction but I am working really hard to try to get all the information in by next weekend. The site will be called www.the-pump.com. It is not yet up but like I said, next weekend is my goal. I am also looking for people that will blog full time for the website. Just send me an email if interested. I will definetly let you know when the site is up and running. This blog will be on my website and as soon as I'm finished I am going to try to blog a couple times a day.

Anger Slows Healing Process after Injury

The adage that laughter is the best medicine has been backed by an unusual investigation which says that people who seethe with anger take longer to recover from injury.

Previous studies have linked ill tempered behaviour, whether brow-beating or road rage, with higher incidence of coronary heart disease, hypertension and stroke, especially among men.
But the new study, published on Wednesday in the British journal Brain, Behaviour, Immunity, is the first controlled experiment that directly measures the impact of ire on the healing process.
Researchers at the University of Ohio inflicted minor burns on the forearms of 98 volunteers who were then monitored over eight days to see how quickly the skin repaired itself.

The subjects had each taken a battery of psychological tests beforehand to assess how easily and often they felt and expressed wrath, and were then ranked on an "anger scale."

Persons who took certain pharmaceutical drugs, smoked cigarettes or drank excessive quantities of caffeine-laden coffee were excluded, along with individuals who were extremely over- or under-weight.

The results were startlingly clear: individuals who had trouble controlling expressions of anger were four times likelier to need more than four days for their wounds to heal, compared with counterparts who could master their anger.

But the researchers were also surprised to find that anger has its nuances, too.
Subjects described as showing "anger out" (regular outbursts of aggression or hostility) or "anger in" (repressed rage) healed almost as quickly as individuals who ranked low on all anger scales.

Only those who tried but failed to hold in their feelings of upset and distemper took longer to heal.

This same group also showed a higher secretion of the stress hormone cortisol, which could at least partly explain the difference in healing time, the study noted.

Earlier research has shown a clear link between cortisol and anger. Hostile men who yelled at spouses during marital spats secreted more of the endocrine modulator within minutes, as did teachers experiencing high levels of stress in the classroom.

High levels of cortisol appears to decrease the production at the point of injury of two cytokines crucial to the repair process, suggests the study.

Cytokines are proteins released by immune-system cells. They act as signallers to generate a wider immune response.

"The ability to regulate the expression of one's anger has a clinically relevant impact on wound healing," concludes lead author Jean-Philippe Gouin, a psychologist at the University of Ohio.
Anger-control therapy could help patients recovering from surgery or injury heal more quickly, the paper says.


This paper was directly copied from www.yahoo.com It is not original content.

Ways to Naturally Boost your GH levels

Everyone that workouts out on a regular basis is aware of the fact that Growth Hormone will help you get bigger and stronger. Obviously if you are looking to build muscle raising your Growth Hormone levels would be extremely beneficial. So how do you do this naturally? Well, new research shows that you can effectively increase your GH levels by directly training to do so. Here's how...

First off, growth hormone (GH) is actually a protein. It is produced in the pituitary gland in your brain. From there it travels to tissues such as muscle fibers (where it enhances muscle growth), fat cells ( where it improves the release of fat) and the liver (where it increases the release of Insulinlike growth factor-I). Your GH levels remain fairly low throughout the day and peak at night while you are sleeping.

When you lift weights, your body releases GH to drive the anabolic effects that lead to muscle regeneration and growth, as well as to encourage the use of fat for energy. GH levels usually peak immediately after a workout ends and gradually decline to normal levels over the next several hours. Research confirms that the rise in GH following a hard workout is critical to the muscle growth process. One study reported that subjects who trained to boost GH levels higher than other subjects experienced greater gains in muscle mass and strength.

The best ways to maximize growth hormone levels through exercise are to:
-Use multijoint exercises that stress multiple muscle groups
-Stay in the 8-12 rep range
-Perform more sets for each body part
-Keep rest minimal inbetween sets
-USE HIGH-INTENSITY TECHNIQUES THAT TAKE MUSCLES BEYOND FAILURE. This is crucial. In fact, one study showed that using forced reps tripled GH levels following a workout compared to training that stopped at muscle failure.

Tips to Help Max out your GH levels Naturally:

1. Don't eat a high-fat meal (10g or more) within four hours before a workout
Research shows that when a high-fat meal is eaten before exercise, the postworkout GH response is more than 50% lower than when a low-fat meal is eaten. Choose lean protein sources such as whey protein, chicken or turkey breast, lean beef, light tuna and low-fat dairy for meals consumed within four hours before training.

2. Eat slow-digesting carbs before workouts
Slower carbs will not only give you longer-lasting energy for the workout but also keep insulin levels low. High insulin levels during training blunt fat burning and can limit GH release. Stick to preworkout carbs such as oatmeal, fruit and whole grains.


3. Supplement before your workout to maximize GH release afterward
Try the following stack 30 minutes before your preworkout protein intake, as all of these supplements have been known to help boost GH levels: Arginine, Glutamine


4. Warm up, Warm up, Warm up
Research shows that when your core temperature is lower during exercise, so is your GH response following exercise. This holds especially true when training in colder climates. Take a quick and easy walk on the treadmill for about five minutes and be sure to perform several warm-up sets of your first exercise. Just don't overdo it on the cardio.


5. Do cardio after weights
Research confirms that when cardio is done before weights, GH levels following the workout are three times lower than if the cardio was done after lifting. This applies to both moderate-intensity cardio done for longer periods and high-intensity sprints for very short bursts.

The Pump

A good muscle pump is something all bodybuilders should aim for, as it signals effectiveness of training and ultimately, muscle hypertrophy (growth). But what exactly is a pump, and how can this important component of muscle-growth be achieved?

The pump results from the “complex interplay” of a number of related functions. In bodybuilding terms, the required stimulus for an effective pump is, of course, proper weight training. As a bodybuilder you want to train for the sole purpose of stimulating muscle growth. You should use the pump as an indicator to show you wether or not you are heading in the right direction, as far as size is concerned. When you fail to achieve this pump you sometimes times feel that you have sufficently trained the targeted muscle/muscle groups. This psychological process of dissatisfaction is not the only thing that you should be concerned about when the muscle pump fails to occur.

Inability to achieve a pump means that the conditions necessary for muscle growth are not in place. A pump, or lack thereof, is usually a good measurement of future muscle growth, as it suggests all the muscle-building processes are functioning as they should be. But what is a pump and why do we need it? Well, the pump, the technical name being “hyperemia” is essential to achieve maximum muscular growth. The only way to achieve this is to train correctly with the right energy intake, to allow sufficient blood flow to your muscles. Muscles being successfully stimulated need blood to supply the with oxygen and essential nutrients, and remove waste products such as lactic acid and CO2. When a muscle is being trained, blood flow is diverted from other bodily processes, in order to supply the muscle with what it needs to perform to its maximum capacity. The blood first needs to be oxygenated before it is pumped into the working muscles, where it is pooled. This is the result of the the tight feeling we call the pump.
It is thought that during training, a muscle can receive up to four times the amount of blood it would ordinarily get. Why exactly do the muscles need all this blood? As mentioned previously, the muscles require sufficient oxygen and nutrients to continue the sustained contracting that results in a pump. Waste products also require removal for the muscles to continue their work. Ultimately, muscles need blood to work effectively and recover quickly after exertion. If the muscles are working effectively, muscle growth will result. Also, muscle growth will result from the fascial stretching that occurs when the muscle is pumped beyond its normal size. When this fascial layer (which can be found between the skin and the muscle) is stretched, room for continued muscle growth is made available.

Over time, the pump will also create a greater number of capillaries (tiny blood vessels), which will, in turn, provide the muscles with more nutrients and oxygen and allow for larger pumps and more growth in the long term.

Are you beginning to see just how important the pump is to gaining muscle?

The pump is achieved by a number of important factors. The first of these serves as a protective function. When we begin training, the nervous and endocrine systems signal the heart to pump more blood. This blood, made available through an increase in cardiac output and blood pressure, pools in its intended muscle, thereby helping to create the pump. During high intensity exercise the muscles need an immediately available energy source. Adenosine phosphate (ATP), creatine and muscle glycogen are three already situated in the muscle, and are pulled out to feed the muscle, which allows for continued work while further assisting with the pump. A muscle that does not receive adequate oxygen will fail to continue contracting over a longer term, thereby limiting the intensity of an exercise, which, in turn, stifles the muscles efforts to pump up sufficiently. Lactic acid will also congregate in the muscle, causing it to fall short in terms of energy expenditure. Blood that is supplied to the muscle under conditions of maximal work will help to flush this lactic acid out. The pump is also achieved when hormones and signaling factors such as nitric oxide (NO), released in response to the acidity caused by high lactic acid levels, cause local capillaries in the muscle to dilate, thereby allowing more blood to flow into the muscle.

The Ultimate Protein Shake

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberry flavored low fat yogurt ( Dannon Light&Fit is best)
6-8 fresh strawberries
1 banana
2 cups of crushed ice
1-2 scoops of strawberry flavored protein powder


Put all of the ingredients in a blender and mix them on the highest setting. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Strength Training in Young/Pre-Teens...Is it Safe?

Whether or not strength training is safe in children and teens has been a highly debated topic in recent years. Parents, coaches, and peers often play a pivotal role in pressuring the children into taking up some form of strength training. Is it because their coach wants them to train to be bigger, faster and stronger? Maybe it is because a teen’s parents think they are too skinny. The adolescent may have a friend who is naturally bigger than he is which makes him want to compete. Any of these reasons could be factors that may influence a teen to take up some form of strength training. Whether it is weight training or just general resistance training the real question is whether the methods have been proven to be healthy for a young teenager. Research shows that strength training in young teens is highly effective and when done correctly, should have minimal effects on the teens growing body.

There are four main reasons why a growing teenager may want to incorporate strength training into their daily life. The first and probably most common reason is that the teens coach wants them to be a better overall athlete. Over the years, sports in general have become more and more competitive, because of this trend, many coaches have developed the “win at all costs” mentality. This means exactly what it says, coaches will do whatever is necessary to win, which most of the time includes increasing the athlete’s physical potential by using strength training to help them become bigger, faster and stronger.

Another significant reason a teen, especially one going through puberty, may want to lift weights is to gain more attention from the opposite sex. It has been a proven fact that dates all the way back to Ancient Greece, more muscular means more manly. The slim but well-muscled torso and the elegant symmetry of form are all things that the Greeks have contributed to the present day image of the perfect male body. Most males, no matter what age, try to portray these characteristics as well as they can so that they can attract female attention.

The entertainment industry may play a part in influencing your teen to start strength training at too young of an age. Different forms of entertainment such as NFL and WWE Wrestling are all filled with unbelievably talented and extremely muscular athletes. To the spectator or the athlete, the increased competitiveness in sports becomes readily accessible through 24 hr television coverage and inviting arenas. Often the enthusiasm to become the model athlete forces teens to attempt to build their own bodies to man sized proportions.

The final main reason that a young teenager or adolescent may want to start strength training is to be able to compete with someone that is bigger and stronger. If a friend or rival is naturally more athletic, an adolescent is going to feel obligated to get bigger and stronger due to peer pressure or more competitive drivers.

Each of these motivations for strength training, whether positive or negative, can drive the physically and mentally immature youth to train in an incorrect way. Typically, the trainee does not stop to think about the fact that the role models discussed are most often full-grown men, unlike the adolescent who is still maturing into his body. Furthermore, these same role models often learn and train with professionals, who are experienced and can produce the results safely. In contrast, the inexperienced adolescent is usually working on a “do it yourself” basis, with little knowledge or experience, or with confidence that his errant knowledge or understanding is sufficient. The adolescent may end up working himself way too hard, trying to produce results that their bodies are physically incapable of producing in such a young stage of life.
According to The American Academy of Pediatrics, “strength training for kids- not to be confused with weightlifting, bodybuilding or powerlifting- is a carefully designed program of exercises to increase muscle strength and endurance.” Weightlifting, bodybuilding and powerlifting are all driven by competition. The goal for these forms of training is to push your body to its physical limits in order to produce the best results possible. Adolescents should not attempt to use these methods, because it puts too much strain on their still developing muscles, tendons and growth plates. This is especially true when proper technique is sacrificed in favor of lifting larger amounts of weight. Strength training for kids is not about lifting large amounts of weight. Instead, it is focused on using lighter weights with controlled movements, while paying particular attention to good technique and safety in order to create good habits for later on in life.

“Strength Training for Young Athletes- 2nd Edition” suggests that the best way for a teen to develop muscular strength is to use mainly light free weights, weight machines, resistance bands or his or her own body weight. Most trainers and weightlifting coaches will agree that resistance bands are the most effective way to develop muscular strength in young teens. The generally accepted reasons are because there is greater emphasis on range of motion and the muscle can be successfully stimulated without putting too much strain on the tendons, ligaments and joints. The mechanical advantage in resistance bands is that resistance is maintained through every part of the motion. In contrast, many similar free weight exercises do not actually work certain parts of the muscle, when movement is not against gravity at a large enough angle. With resistance band training, every part of both the concentric and eccentric part of the exercise has resistance, resulting in overall stimulation of the muscle.

In the past, many misconceptions and criticisms surrounded the topic of weight training for growing teens. However, most of them have been resolved in recent years. These misconceptions usually resulted from a lack of understanding by the community when it comes to moderate strength training. For example, a very common misconception is the fact that weight training has been portrayed as inefficient in improving strength in the young teen, as hormonal response is largely absent. This has been proven to be an incorrect theory because if this were true females would not be able to gain significant amounts of strength seeing as how their bodies only produce 1/10 the amount of testosterone as an adult male.

Within the clinical community, there has also been a general recommendation that all physical activity be prescribed only a moderate level for young teens. If one applies this to weightlifting, the recommendation excludes powerlifting, weightlifting, bodybuilding, and general training with maximal weights until the completion of puberty. This recommendation is also an example of inexperience, and a lack of understanding of weight lifting. By specifically referring to these forms of training, the clinical community would propose to eliminate high volume- low intensity weight training (bodybuilding), low volume- high intensity weight training (powerlifting), and moderate volume- moderate to high intensity training (weight lifting) from youth training. So according to this idea any coach that tries to follow these overly restrictive guidelines will be ineffective in producing a bigger, stronger, and faster athlete. If you apply this logic then you also have to argue against sprinting (high intensity- low volume training), against distance running (high volume-low intensity training), and against middle distance running (moderate to high speed- moderate volume training) in the young adolescent. Producing even a decent track athlete would be nearly impossible without your training methods meeting at least one of if not all of these criteria.

There are infinite benefits to following a proper, safe, and supervised strength-training program. One of the benefits of participating in a good strength-training program is that you will have significant increases in strength and power. This can be seen just by comparing the strength norms of an average teen to one that participates in weightlifting competitions, high school powerlifting events. Using scientific data measuring the increase in vertical jump, it shows more improved jumping ability in those following a weight training program.

Another benefit is neuromuscular coordination improvement in children. This has been linked to performing a specific skill repeatedly regardless of what skill it is. Data suggests that there is no valid reason to assume that children cannot effectively learn and develop their motor skills by executing weight lifting skills repeatedly if taught and supervised properly.

Other benefits of following a strength-training program include protecting the muscles and joints from injury, helps improve performance in a particular sport, better heart and lung function, a healthier body composition, stronger bones, lower blood cholesterol levels, boosts confidence.

Not too long ago, The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement to its members stating that “unless good data becomes available that shows safety, preadolescents should avoid the practice of weight lifting, power lifting, and body building, and the repetitive use of maximal amounts of weight in strength training programs, until they have reached full sexual maturity.” Because of this, most physicians, doctors, and physical instructors were opposed to the idea of young children participating in strength training. Most of the evidence against kids participating in such programs came from scientific reports that young children were unable to gain strength before they had completed puberty. Many of the doctors felt that the potential risks of injury and stunting growth were far too great. In addition, it was believed that preadolescents lacked a certain amount of male hormone called androgen, which had to present in the blood stream before strength training would improve strength. Seeing as how an elevated level is only present after puberty, strength training would be assumed to be ineffective until this time. However, in recent years, a growing body of medical research now suggests that teens training pre-puberty can be very effective. These studies showed that preadolescents can respond to a strength-training program with an increase in muscle mass that is roughly half of that seen in adults undergoing an identical program. Besides the obvious improvement in physical strength, there is also a decreased risk in musculoskeletal overuse injuries that occur while participating in sports. Furthermore, there are also psychological benefits such as improvement in self-esteem and self-confidence. Because of these recent discoveries and new understandings about strength training, coaches and trainers everywhere are now building their young athletes around strength training programs in order to increase their maximal output on the field and create a healthier athlete for the future of sports.

How should somebody prepare for a 185 rep test for a highschool combine?

Well first off lets go over some important technique that you must have to perform a legitement bench press rep test. You can not bounce the weight and have to lock out or the rep doesn’t count. So make sure that you are practicing this form through out the entire workout. Also your ass can’t come off the bench.


To train for it I would suggest conditioning the muscle groups to perform that many reps. The chest, shoulders, and triceps are the most important. For maxium results u should hit the chest, shoulders and tris twice a week for 12 wks. Preferly monday and thursday. This is how the sets should go:

BENCH
135 x 15
155 x 10
225 x 6
190 x failure

DIPS
bodyweight x failure x 3

DUMBBELL PRESS SEATED
1x20
1x15
1x12


Every 2 weeks add 2.5 lbs to the failure set on the bench (ex. Wk 1 use 190 lbs, Wk 2 put the 2.5 on the right side of the bar for Mondays workout and on the left side for Thursdays workout, Wk 3 use 192.5 lbs, and Wk 4 put a 2.5 on the left and right side for both workouts, etc.) and 5 lbs to your bodyweight on the dip sets with a belt and chain. Dumbell press stays the same reps just add as much weight as needed. So week 8 should look like this:

BENCH
135 X 15
155 X 10
225 X 6
200x failure

DIPS
bodyweight plus 40 lbs x failure x 3


Before the combine take a week off. Follow the program for 12 wks. Do not do any other upper body exercises during the 12 wks aside from some curls. Good Luck and be sure to give me feedback on your results.