How to increase intensity in your workouts
When someone tells me that they’re eating good but are not seeing the results they want (usually fat loss), the first thing I do is watch them workout… because when it comes to results, what matters most is effort and the amount of work that is actually done during a workout. Many times a competitor may think they are training hard, they talk about how hard they are training, how many hours they spend in the gym… and even tell others how to train… but in reality they should be working out much harder themselves.
Take a look at the video below. The first few reps of the squat rows look ok… but in reality Laurie could lift heavier weight, which would give her a much better workout.
When Laurie increases the weight from 55lbs. to 140lbs for the last 12 reps, this greatly increases the amount of work she is doing.
Let’s compare the two:
- 12 reps with 55 lbs = 660 lbs
- 12 reps with 140 lbs = 1,680 lbs
Imagine the difference in someone’s physique if they used the heavier weight for 3 months, instead of the lighter weights. This is why I always tell figure competitors to put their work in early in competition prep because there is no making up for lost time …. you can’t catch-up if you slack (at the lower weight) for 11 weeks and think that there is some magical trick that will ‘bring it all together’ the last week before a show – sorry but it’s not going to happen! So train hard everyday so you get the results you want …and so that you don’t have to spend all day in the gym.
Exercises that can cause injury: Part 4 (dips)
Like I said in a recent blog post… figure competitors must keep their shoulders healthy because of the volume of exericse they must do to get ready for a show. First off, many competitors love dips… so my goal is not to say the exercise is totally bad… but that you should understand how to do it properly - because you can hurt the front capsule of the shoulder joint, which can prevent you from doing pushups, bench presses, overhead presses etc., for a long time.
Safest way to perform bench dips:
- keep your body close to the bench
- don’t go down too far
In the first video the first few reps are done correctly. The last reps are done with the body further away from the bench. Besides being less effective, this position puts strain on the anterior capsule of the shoulder. The second video shows the pressure the anterior capsule of the shoulder joint is under even when doing a ‘safe’ dip.
Video #1 – Video showing the correct and incorrect way to perform bench dips:
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Video #2 – The video below shows the anterior capsule of the shoulder under a lot of pressure during dips:
Exercises That Can Cause Injury: Part 3 (the squat)
Squatting-type exercises are an important part of everyones workout routine. As a byproduct, there are a lot of figure competitors who have sore knees …or kness that are easily ‘tweaked‘.
Since the explosion of women athletics in colleges, along with the increased number of women in gyms… doctors have noticed that women have a much higher percentge of knee injuries than men. There are a number of reasons for this… but one of them is squatting technique – either in preparation to jump (as in basketball or volley ball) or in the gym doing squats, lunges etc., and not being careful with technique. Below (video) is something I see much too often that can lead to injury, if done on a regular basis: “The Bounce”
Bouncing at the bottom of a squat makes it easier to get out of the lower squat positions – similar to bouncing the bar off your chest while bench pressing. The problem is that the knee tendons/ligaments are under a lot of strain during this bounce. Tendons are very strong and designed to handle more stress that the actual muscle the are attached to… BUT, you don’t want to repeatedly test their strength.
In the video below, the first few reps are done correctly (…no bouncing at the bottom). The remaining reps are done INCORRECTLY (bouncing at the bottom). Ideally, you should try to pause for a split second at the bottom of your squat to eliminate any possible bouncing. This is not only safer, but you get a better workout, because your leg muscle have to do ALL the work …with no help from the much stronger tendons.
Bouncing has always been a problem when doing regular bar squats, but it is even more of a problem now with the many plyometric based exercise programs that use jump squats and simiular types of movements – it’s very important to stay in control of these movements especially when you are tired or going for speed (form can become very sloppy wheh trying to ‘beat the clock’). Figure competitors must always keep in mind that an injury will make it very diffcult to reach competition condition… especially if your legs/knees are affected – because trying to do jump squats, cardio etc., on an injured knee is next to impossible.
Exercises That Cause Injury: Part 2 (pullups)
The one exercises that figure competitors desire to do most is pullups. To build a nice v-taper for competition you need to increase the number of pullups you can do… this is a great back building exercise, but you must do it safely. In this post I’m going to talk about how to protect your elbow and shoulder joints when performing pullups.
RULE #1: Keep your arms bent at all times. Doing this insures that your bicep and back muscles are supporting your body weight and not the tendons and ligaments of your elbows and shoulders.
Watch the video below. The first rep is done incorrectly from a straight-arm position. This is NOT good because the elbow and shoulder joints are supporting the entire weight of the body, while the bicep and back muscles are relaxed. The remaining repetitions are done correctly, with arms bent, which protects the elbow and shoulder joints because the biceps and back muscles are engaged at all times.
I’ve seen numerous injuries from sloppy pullup technique – take your time and be careful… bicep tendons take a very long time to heal!
Exercises That Cause Injury: Part 1
Shoulders are easily injured
Avoiding injuries is very important if you want to achieve your fitness goals. Whether you are a figure competitor or just want to get in great shape, it’s important to know which exercises can potentially cause an injury.
I see exercise mistakes all the time. It’s bound to happen with gyms being so popular now and filled with inexperienced exercisers. It’s one thing to do an exercise that’s ineffective, but it’s another thing when the exercise can cause injury. Unfortunately many people don’t realize it until it’s too late.
Below are the first in a series of exercises with the potential to cause injury. Remeber… there are always alternative ways to exercise a muscle… so there is never any need to jeopardize getting an injury by doing a suspect exercise. Some of these exercises you may have done for years with no problems but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you – everyone is built a little different and certain exercises may affect one person more than another – but in the end, if an exercise is not anatomically correct, it will eventually cause a problem if done too often, too long or with too much weight.
Today I talk about the shoulder joint. If you workout at a gym, Im sure you know a lot of people with a shoulder issue… whether it’s a rotator cuff or just general pain. Their workouts are the main reason why many of them are in pain!
Exercises done behind the neck:
Not only does this NOT have any beneficial effect on the muscles of the shoulders and back, but it also puts the shoulders in a vulnerable position (especially when doing shoulder presses), it causes undue strain on the neck when you move your head forward to clear the bar (especially in heavy pulldowns) and it also promotes poor posture.
This last point is often overlooked, many women have poor posture… so every exercise you performs should promote good posture.
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Shoulder thingy’s:
Not sure what this exercise is called but I first saw this shoulder joint crusher in aerobics classes and then it slowly migrated onto the gym floor and personal trainers were using it to train clients.
First off… the shoulder is the most versatile joint in the body. This makes it more prone to injury. Your shoulders are their weakest when your arms are extended outwards to the sides of your body such as in lateral raises. Although lateral raises (and front raises) are good exercises… you should never rotate, turn etc. your arms or shoulders when in an outstretched position such as in the video – doing so can expose the shoulder joint to injury.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen a woman walk out of an aerobics class rubbing her shoulder after doing these types of exercise with weights as light as 3-5lbs. Holding your arms out and manipulating your shoulder/arms forward and back while holding weights, is an unnatural motion. Eventhough your shoulders may burn from fatigue it doesn’t mean there is any benefit from doing this exercise… and the risk definitely outweight any benefits from this exercise.
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This is how you properly perform shoulder exercises with outstretched arms – only move through one plane of motion.
Side lateral raises done correctly:
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Front raises done correctly:
If you ever experience shoulder pain, lateral raises and front raises are two exercises you should take out immediately. They are safe if done correctly and with control …but they still place unnatural stress on the shoulder (when in life do you ever take an object and lift it out to the side with a straight arm?). Do these exercises under control with lighter weights and go for the ‘burn’ …going too heavy with these exercises (especially lateral raises) is asking for trouble.
What is show ready?
This time a year (competition time) I get a lot of pictures sent to me from competitors all over the country asking if they are ‘show ready’ or not. It can be a fine line between being ready, being too soft or being too hard (too lean and defined). By far the biggest problem is competitors coming in to shows too soft. You may have a great physique but if it’s hidden beneath a layer of fat, then it’s a waste. Below is a video of two of my competitors and good friends Karen and Stephanie. Karen is just coming off a competition and Stephanie is preparing for an upcoming show – this presents a perfect time for me to demonstrate the difference between competition ready and almost competition ready.
Remember also that in the off-season you will look more like Stephanie than karen. Karen’s condition is temporary… she will only be this lean around competition time. During the off-season she will put on some body fat and fill out so that her body/hormones can get back to normal and so that she can put on some muscle (if that’s her goal). So, In other words, a figure competitor will look like Stephanie throughout the year, except for competition time. This is the best and healthiest way to train and compete…. Now that’s (training smart and staying healthy) is a big topic that I could write about for hours…. I will discuss that topic in an upcoming post!
How Figure Competitors Build Muscle
FREE Muscle Building Guide For Figure Competitors:
http://www.figureready.com/free-muscle-building-guide.html
The one big thing I see competitors do in the off-season is train totally wrong! I’m talking about competitors who want to put on more muscle. Particularly, if you are a younger competitor and you notice that the women 10-15 years older have more muscle and do very well in competition. The reason is that they’ve been training longer. When lifting weights was not ‘cool’ they were in the gym working out with the guys. If you’re trying to play ‘catch-up’ then you must know how to train as effectively as possible…. you don’t have time to waste.
The training world has been swamped with so many different training methods that the line becomes very blurry when trying to decide what to do to gain muscle size. There’s plyometric training, circuit, cross-fit, core training and the list goes on. All of these different styles of training have their place – but if you’re trying to gain muscle, the last thing you need to do is perform squats on a balance disc or Bosu ball. For someone who needs to develop core strength or improve balance, these would be great tools… but for muscle building everything needs to be done on a solid, stable surface or you won’t be able to lift enough weight to stimulate muscle growth.
Choosing the wrong training style makes it nearly impossible to improve muscle size, which means you may go into your next figure show looking exactly the same as you did for your last show. Women have a more difficult time gaining muscular size therefore, you don’t have time to waste. Then there is the issue about off-season cardio. Trying to build muscle while doing cardio is a topic that makes me nuts!! This is why I put together this guide on how to properly gain muscular size in the off-season. I give you exact workouts and I also discuss that off-season cardio issue. If you are looking for some fancy dancy workouts, then this guide is not for you… this is bare bones, basic muscle building because that should be your main focus in the off-season!
Are Plyometrics Safe for Figure Training
Figure competitors ask me about plyometrics all the time. “Is it a good way to train?” …”Are they safe?” …”How often should you do them?”
Plyometrics were one of the greatest breakthroughs in sports training… ever! Developed by a Russian doctor, Yuri Verkhoshansky in 1964, helped the communists countries (Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc) dominate track and field. The United States went over to see why a small country like East Germany with the population equal that of New York State (abut 17,000,000 people) could dominate the United States (with a population 10 X that of East Germany – 180,000,000) in Olympic competition. They discovered that they were using a training techniques named plyometrics.
Plyometrics are designed to stress the body in a way so that it becomes stronger, faster and more powerful. They were designed for high level athletes. These exercises place high levels of stress on joints, ligaments and muscles – but this is necessary for the muscular and neurological adaptions to take place in the body that will lead to improvements.
That being said…. plyometrics were never meant for group training classes where participants perform hundreds or thousands of repetitions during a single class. Participants, many of whom, may not even have an athletic background – I know quite a few people who who are starting to complain about sore knees etc., from these plyometric classes/workouts that are popping up.
Because of the many workouts and hours of cardio you must do to get ready for a figure competition, 
It’s easy to get nagging injuries. Too many plyometrics may push already exhausted joints and muscles over the limit… so it is imperative that you listen to your body and stop any exercises the second you feel something “weird”
It’s not that plyometrics should not be done but you have to:
- know your body’s limit
- don’t do entire workouts using just plyometrics
- perform the ‘safer’ plyometric exercises
When done alongside other exercises, plyometrics can get your heart rate up and can help you burn a lot of calories.
- For example: instead of trying to get your heart rate up doing 35 jump squats. You could get your heart rate up on a spin bike, get off immediately and do 12 jump squats. Now that’s a workout… and you cut your jump squats by 2/3.
One leg dominant exercises: Exercises that requires you to support all or most of your weight on one leg should be avoided or done in a limited fashion. I never have anyone do one-legged jumps/bounds and only occasionally will we do jump lunges. These are exercises I used when I did plyometrics to increase my vertical jumps 20 years ago. They worked great back then for increasing my vertical jump (I ‘posterized’ a few people) but my knees are paying a price nowadays. It was definitely not worth it! My problem was that I did too many reps and exercises. The key with plyometrics regardless if you’re just trying to improve in sports or lose body fat is QUALITY over QUANITY…. don’t overdue it!!! I got an x-ray of my knees few weeks ago and the pictures were not good… the doctor called it right away: “You must have been a jumper?”
Safer exercises: exercises like jump squats are much better because your weight is distributed more evenly when you land, but still not everyone can do them. A small percentage of people can jump really high…. the large majority should be more cautious and jump less aggressively. The landings should be soft so that the knees can absorb the shock as you lower down into a squat position. True plyometric exercise is done exactly opposite (knees don’t absorb the impact) but the strain on your knees would not be worth it… plus you get a better fat burning workout when lowering into a squat position.
conclusion: Plyometrics can definitely be a part of your fat loss workout program. Put them in your workout to get the maximum benefit from them… but don’t build an entire workout around plyometrics.
The over 40 figure competitor!
This is a picture of Karen we will get to her story in a moment. I often get emails from women who are interested in competing in figure but think that they can’t get into figure shape. They think the deck is stacked against them and that they can’t compete against younger competitors. The truth is that there are great advantages to being a little older (and wiser) which make it ‘easier’ to get ready for a show.
#1: Increased focus: older competitors are more focused – they seem to be able to block out a lot of the B.S. and just do what they have to do to get ready for a show
#2: Hard working: older competitors work hard – their extra years of wisdom helps them truly understand that ….you only get out of it… what you put into it
#3: More responsibility: When you’re 40+ years old you feel a sense of responsibility to show other women that they can do it too. I remember when George foreman came out of retirement to win the heavyweight boxing title at age 45 over an opponent that was 19 years younger… He said he just wanted to show people that you can do whatever you want if you work hard enough and dedicate yourself to it.
#4: Good muscle size: It takes a longer time to build muscle in women, so the older competitor may have more muscle if she’s been lifting for years. A lot of older competitors were lifting years ago when lifting (for women) was frowned upon – which is why the over 40 category is sometimes the best in the entire competition.
Now back to Karen …age 51
Before meeting me, Karen, who is a personal trainer (with a successful blog: http://www.getfitover40.tv/) competed but was not happy with how she looked on show day. Karen, being a trainer and not being able to get the results she wanted for competition was extremely frustrating… because as trainers we are supposed to ‘know it all’ – what she realized was that ‘competition’ training was a completely different beast from ‘getting in shape’ training. When I first met Karen she was in good shape but she didn’t realize that to step onstage she would have to push herself beyond anything she had ever done.
Karen was the perfect competitor, she possessed all 4 qualities I mentioned above she just didn’t know how to reach her goal of getting onstage and competing for that 1st place trophy. BUT… she had the usual concerns of an over 40 figure competitor: 
Extra fat on the thighs: ‘I will never lose the fat on my things’
Age: “I can’t compete with younger women… I’m too old”
The unknown: “I’ve never gotten that lean before… I could never do it”
One thing that comes with age is knowledge and wisdom… when I asked Karen about each one of these ‘fears’ she realized that they were just excuses to not give 100%. She’s known people in her life who have overcome much greater obstacles to succeed in different aspects of life… so she realized that she would not let the ‘standard’ excuses get in her way. Once she decided to give 100% …the results were amazing!
Eat whatever you want over the holidays and still lose
(I apologize I was supposed to post this about 4 days ago… i forgot to hit the ‘publish’ button and it stayed in ‘drafts’ …sorry, BUT it’s still not to late to try this – it will still work!)
Eat whatever you want over the holidays and still lose over the holidays:
I realize that most people will cheat over the holidays so I try not to be unrealistic and ask women to abstain from all of that good holiday food. There is a way to that you can eat whatever you want and not gain a pound… you may even lose a pound! Basically you will need to eat a really clean certain days surrounding the holidays. It’s predicated on something I do with figure competitors to get them to lose weight in between back-to-back shows. If you follow it you will probably lose weight even if you go nuts eating on the holidays.
Take a look at the charts below, It tells you how to eat on particular days surrounding the holidays. If you need a little more explanation then check out my website http://www.terrystokes.net/holiday.html The password is: 1234
The weight you gain after eating on Christmas and New Years will be mostly water… you will lose that in a day or two if you follow these guidelines
http://www.terrystokes.net/holiday.html (password: 1234)
