Q&A for: 29-Jul-06
1689. Q:
How effective is vibrational training that is where you get a flexible stick like object and swing it back and forth in different positions to activate different muscles until the muscle twitches to failure.
A:
Training like that is a variation of core training (abdominals, lower back, and hip muscles) that can have a bit of a cardio effect if done at length with lighter weight sticks. It can also give quite an intense shoulder workout as you hold the 'stick' in front and/or above you. As such, it's a perfectly good variant of training to introduce into your program, especially if you don't feel like you're getting enough of core training with conventional exercises like deadlifts, squats, crunches, and other ab work.
Because holding these flexible sticks in front and above you will almost certainly work your shoulders a near-failure workout as well I would recommend cutting down on traditional weightlifting shoulder exercises while you do vibration training. I also would not recommend that you completely replace traditional weight training with vibration training, but if you enjoy it it can certainly have a place in your program.
1690. Q:
hi mike what time should i eat before a soccer game and what types of food should i eat?
A:
This is a bit of an individual question. Some people can eat as soon as 15-30 minutes before the game and not feel weighed down by the food by the time the play starts while others might need a full hour or more. So you'll have to experiment and find out for yourself.
As far as what kinds of food, I recommend generous amounts of complex fiberous carbs (oats, brown rice) along with some source of protein, perhaps whey protein powder or eggs/egg whites. You can also eat whole fruits in addition to oats or whatever other complex carbs. Typically your body will digest fruits quicker, so if you eat those you might be able to eat them just half an hour before the game while oats might require a full hour to 'settle' in your stomach. Again, you'd have to find the optimal timing for yourself.
1691. Q:
hi mike i want to train my speed what exercise should i do in the gym ?
A:
Check out Q&A 1307 where I talk about improving sprinting speed for soccer -- same recommendations will appy to improve sprinting speed in most sports.
1692. Q:
I'm 17 and i weight 110 pounds. How can i gain muscle mass without spending hours after hours in the gym?
A:
You don't need to spend hours after hours in the gym, but about 3 hours per week split over 3-5 days is a good target. However weight training is actually the easy part -- the hard part is eating! You will not gain any significant amount of muscle unless you eat enough to gain weight. Not only that, but you'll have to eat healthy foods in a balanced overall diet -- otherwise most of your weight gains will be as fat instead of muscle. Lifting weights will give your body a reason to gain muscle, but its the food that will provide the actual building blocks to do it.
Please take time to read my weight training and especially nutrition articles. Really understand them, especially the nutrition/diet one. If you're serious about gaining muscle, you will need to eat (healthy) enough to gain about 2 pounds of weight per month -- if you gain weight much faster you'll end up with too much new fat, and if you don't gain weight at all you'll have very little new muscle.
Once you understand these articles, fill out my fitness guide specifying 'Gain Muscle' as your goal. It'll suggest both a weight training and a diet program for you to follow as well as suggestions how to taylor the diet to your own tastes and preferences. At just 110 pounds you'll most likely have to eat even bigger portion sizes than the guide suggests and you can probably afford to gain weight as fast as 3 or even 4 pounds per month for the first few months. Just keep track of your weight and adjust portion sizes according to keep slowly but steadily gaining weight. It'll probably seem like way too much food, but I promise you you'll get used to it if you give it an honest effort. Good luck!
1693. Q:
We have to eat many small meals every day.But many ppl work for many hours.If i work lets say for 9 hours normally i should eat 3 or at least 2 meals in my work every time thing that is very difficult.How can i work and keep this routine of meals at the same time?Any suggestions?Are protein bars ok for this purpose?What could i eat these hours that would be also healthy?
A:
If you're forced into using them, then yes, get a high-protein low-carb bar and eat it with a piece of fruit you bring from home (whole fruits have much healthier carbs than those bars). But there're complete meals you can bring with you from home that are cheap, easy to make, and can be eaten quickly. Check out Q&A #440, Q&A #266, and Q&A #239 for some on-the-go meal ideas.
If you absolutely do not have time to prepare any kind of meal ahead of time, you can simply keep some whey protein powder at work and gulp down a quick protein shake with water every few hours as well as eat a bit of dry-roasted almonds and/or baby carrots and/or apples you bring from home -- whey powder gives you the protein, almonds give you the healthy fats, and carrots or apples give you the carbs (you can use other fruits as well). Just go easy on almonds since it's very easy to overeat on nuts.
Finally, if you have the opportunity and don't mind eating out, then virtually every restaurant has some sort of chicken salad -- just go easy on their dressing. Many places will also have 'low-carb' menu choices which tend to be fairly healthy: often steamed veggies with some grilled meat or fish.
1694. Q:
how do i loose weight on my hips
A:
In order to lose fat from the hips you have to lose fat and weight overall -- please read this article to learn the most effective, healthiest way of doing so.
1695. Q:
I always thought and heard that swimming made you very slim and defined especially as its an aerobic exercise. Having watched swimming on tv Ive noticed that most pro swimmers tend to be vey muscular if not beefy with less visible definition that I would expect. And a lot of ordinary, but good swimmers are not defined at all look at people who have swum the English Channel. Why is this I ask as I swim for enjoyment and of course for the exercise benefits.
A:
Swimming is an excellent whole-body exercise. It can be a cardio developer as in long-distance swimming or it can be an anaerobic muscle-builder when done as max effort short-ditance sprints (you see the muscle-building effect of it on professional swimmers, though most of them of course supplement with weight training). Both the cardio swimming and the anaerobic swimming have value as fat burners as well.
There are at least a couple reasons why you typically don't see well-defined six-packs on pro swimmers... First, having a little fat is good for a swimmer since it provides extra buoyancy (fat is lighter than water and therefore floats while muscle is heavier and sinks). Second, the human body naturally reacts to being submerged into relatively cold water by retaining a little more fat on the stomach and chest than it would otherwise.
That does NOT mean that swimming is a poor exercise for fat loss! Those same pro swimmers are in tremendous shape and have much lower body fat levels than an average person. The 'ordinary' swimmers not being slim and defined does not mean swimming doesn't burn fat -- it just means that those people don't care much about fat loss (swimming or any other form of exercise by itself will not make you lean unless your diet is good as well). So by all means, continue swimming -- just don't forget that it's just one part of the overall program which should include a good diet and preferably weight training.
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