It's this cardio-junkie a long time to really understand the necessity of strength training! Great article on the importance of strength training and some best-practice suggestions. Just had to SHARE... http://www.fitsolutionsblog.com/strength-training-hacks-that-bring-faster-results/#!60

Strength Training Hacks that Bring Faster Results

Strength Training Hacks that Bring Faster Results is something that all of us would like to benefit from. Strength is about quality and efficiency in movements, not quantity or weight. Yes, the weight needs to provide resistance to fatigue the muscle, but the quality and efficiency of the movement is where the results will come from.

Strength Training Hacks that Bring Faster Results is not just for those who want to build muscle and size. These hacks are also important to those who want a lean athletic body, and to lose overall and fat weight. Often we see people who want to lose weight forgo the weight training. When you are trying to lose weight dumping a quality strength training regimen is a huge mistake. When you do this a lot of your weight loss will come from lean muscle.

Strength Training Hacks that Bring Faster Results

The first thing you want to have in place is a workout regimen that includes at least two days of strength work. Many people don’t do this, and it is a must. Implementing these Strength Training Hacks will help you get the most out of your strength-training program.

Hack #1 – Add Mobility Training and Recovery periods. This is critical to making progress. Plus, your body will thank you later in life as we age. This can be added as its own workout, or as a part of the warm-up and cool-down times. Though one day a week that strictly focuses on mobility and recovery is also recommended.

Doing mobility work and having it as a part of your training program will allow your body to be more useful during other parts of your workout regimens, allow for greater performance on exercises, and help create greater results. You can have mobility training as a part of your warm up through dynamic moves and foam rolling for 10-15 minutes.

Here is an example of a Lower Body Mobility Warm Up using a foam roller. For the rolling moves, roll slowly for 15-20 seconds for each move and repeat 6-8 times on each side. For all other moves do 10 repetitions. Once you have completed these moves you would move into your regular cardio warm-up.

• Hip Flexor Foam Roller Mobility
• Ankle Calf Foam Roller Mobility
• Adductor Foam Roller Mobility
• IT Band Foam Roller Mobility
• Bird Dog Stretch
• T Squats w/ Broom Stick or PVC Pipe
• Walking Lunge with a Crescent Reach
• Low Squat with Torso Twist
• Inchworm

Hack #2 – The Overhead Press is one of the best overall movements you can do. Of course if you have an injury or issues with your shoulders you will want to spend time doing correctives before doing this move at full capacity. You can also minimize the volume by working the this move in every other week. So why the Shoulder Press? Because it activates both the posterior and medial sides of the deltoid (shoulder), the core and when done right even involves the lower body.

When doing the shoulder press you want higher rep schemes and lower weight because the shoulder joint is naturally a more unstable joint and doing heavy weights places them at a high risk for injury. You also want to make sure you have a shoulder width stance with feet pointing forward and weight toward the heals, slightly soft knees and your core engaged. This will give you the best base. Your press is complete when your elbows end up by your ears the shoulder fully activated. Then you will control the weight as you receive the weight back down stopping at shoulder height.

Hack #3 – Training intensity must be a must. This is often a challenge for people if they are not training with professional or using an at-home program that is designed to push them. Getting strong is hard work and requires you to step out of your comfort zone.

One way to help you challenge yourself is do a total of six sets in a pyramid. 12-16-20-16-12 and attempt to do them without more than 10 seconds rest between sets. This increases your heart rate, and fatigues the muscles. Using this method of training allows you to focus on doing the set while it creates a higher intensity style of work. As you improve you can increase weights and or starting with a higher rep count such as 15-20-25-20-15 for more volume which will help them get stronger.

Hack #4 – Eccentric Training. This is doing the exercise in a quick motion when you are creating the contraction on the muscle and a 3 or 4 count slow move when releasing the contraction. Example of an eccentric bicep curl. Quick move to the curl, and slowly moving out of the curl is the eccentric move.

This creates more tension on the muscle, but also allows a slight recovery period on the tissue. Plus, it creates strength, greater flexibility, and uses less energy for the results.

Hack #5 – Use Multi-Directional Movements. Most training programs only focus on developing strength through horizontal and vertical movements. Yes, our bodies, and joints move in a multitude of directions. Therefore, it is beneficial to do movements in all directions, and do movements that recruit multiple muscles groups at one time. This is what is called functional exercise, which allows you to burn more calories and create an overall greater strength throughout the body. This is why the use of most gym equipment does not produce the results that most desire. Gym equipment only moves you horizontally or vertically.

Strength Training Hacks that Bring Faster Results

Doing a functional move that recruits multiple muscles and has multi-directional movements is really how our bodies move, so that is why you create greater strength and flexibility for your body.

These Strength Training Hacks that Bring Faster Results will help prevent strength training from falling to the wayside as it needs to be a part of your weekly regimen, and if fat loss is your goal it is a must. You can make strength training fun and interesting, as long as you choose your weight and exercises wisely. It would be to your benefit to use a professional when you get started, or a high quality at-home program that provides the right calendar of workouts and all the right ques for the exercise. These Strength Training hacks that Bring Faster Results combined with the right program will help you accomplish your goals.

One of the most frequent questions when people start a new nutrition program is how to handle portion control. That is why the new Master’s Hammer and Chisel Program uses a color-coded container system that makes portioning nutrition a breeze. Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutritionmakes nutrition balance and portion control easy and intuitive. No hassle of calorie counting, and you always know you are getting the right nutrition for the results you desire. If it fits in the container and is on the approved nutritious food list, you get to eat it!

Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition

The plan comes with six colored containers that represent six groups of foods that our bodies need for balanced nutrition. When you see how simple this nutrition plan is, you will see why it is changing people’s nutritional lifestyle, and doing it with ease.

The Green Container is for Vegetables. The vegetables can be cooked or raw, sliced or chopped. Examples of foods from the approved food list are lettuces, kale, squash, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Remember it is what fits in the container, so you can really squish the lettuce into the container and create one awesome salad!

The Purple Container is for Fruit. Obviously fruit like berries, grapes, and cherries can easily fit into the container, but larger fruits like watermelon, apples, oranges, and fruits with pits, like peaches, will need to be cut up so you can put them into the container to make sure you are getting the right amounts.

The Red Container is for Protein. This container is used for any meat protein, but also for yogurt, eggs, tofu, or shellfish. Some proteins have specific instructions in the food list guide.

The Yellow Container is for Starch and Grain Carbohydrates. This container is for rice, beans, sweet potatoes, and whole-grain pastas. When it comes to foods like sprouted grain bread, waffles or tortillas that won’t fit well into a container, the allowed amounts are in the food guide.

The Blue Container is for Healthy Fats. Healthy fats include avocados, nuts, cheese, and hummus, to name a few. Again, what you can fit in the container, you get to eat.

The Orange Container is for Seeds and Dressings. The orange container is the smallest, which is why it is used for most calorie-dense foods like seeds, olives, coconut, and approved dressing recipes.

Teaspoons. Teaspoons are also a measurement of use in the nutrition program. Teaspoons are used for oils and butters. A teaspoon is not provided with the system, as most people have one in their kitchens.

Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition and how to use the containers will create greater results in your fitness and health program since 80-85% of the results come from the kitchen. The best part of this plan is you will not have to count calories or worry about macronutrient percentages, because the easy to use portion control system does it for you. The first step is to use the nutritional guide’s caloric equation formula to figure out approximately how many calories will need each day based on your goals. Once you figure out your daily calorie need, use the calorie chart to see how many containers of each color you get to eat each day.

Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition

Another great feature of this nutrition plan is you can mix and match foods of the same category to fill a single container, allowing you to create a greater variety. For example, if you don’t want to use a whole green container for spinach, you can fill it halfway with spinach and half with carrots. Two foods, one green container.

As convenient and transportable as the containers are, remember that you don’t have to eat out of them. Actually it is recommended that you really use them to measure your food and then empty them onto a plate or into a bowl so you can have a great presentation of your food. The better the presentation of food, the more satisfied you will feel when you have finished eating.

Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition makes it easier to stay on track and focused on your nutritional goals. Often when people begin this program, they find that they’re full even before they’ve finished their portions for the day. The reason is healthy food has more volume than low nutritional foods and junk food. If you find this is the case for you, only eat what you can, but make sure to eat from all the containers instead of just filling up on your favorite kind and avoiding what you like the least. You still want to be balanced with all your food groups.

This system truly creates moderation and a sense of awareness about what you are eating. After you’ve completed this program, you’ll have a good idea of how many fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats you should be eating every day.