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Jacinda Saleeby
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Frdric Delavier is a gifted artist with an exceptional knowledge of human anatomy. He studied morphology and anatomy for five years at the prestigious cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and studied dissection for three years at the Paris Facult de Mdecine.
Delavier won the French powerlifting title in 1988 and makes annual presentations on the sport applications of biomechanics at conferences in Switzerland. His teaching efforts have earned him the Grand Prix de Techniques et de Pdagogie Sportive. Delavier lives in Paris, France.
Michael Gundill, MBA, has written 13 books on strength training, sport nutrition, and health. His books have been translated into multiple languages, and he has written over 500 articles for bodybuilding and fitness magazines around the world, including Iron Man and Dirty Dieting. In 1998 he won the Article of the Year award at the Fourth Academy of Bodybuilding Fitness & Sports Awards in California.
Gundill started weightlifting in 1983 in order to improve his rowing performances. Most of his training years were spent completing specific lifting programs in his home. As he gained muscle and refined his program, he began to learn more about physiology, anatomy, and biomechanics and started studying those subjects in medical journals. Since 1995 he has been writing about his discoveries in various bodybuilding and fitness magazines all over the world.
Unfortunately, there are very few good gyms for weight training. Many gyms invest in cardio and group classes rather than in weight training, and in many gyms, serious weight trainers are not welcome.
Going to the gym can be tedious. You have to get dressed, drive to the gym, and change into your workout clothes. Then, after working out, you have to do it all again in the opposite order. All of this can take more time than the actual workout. Add to this the fact that membership costs are more and more expensive because of the amount of activities offered. But why pay for group classes, a pool, or something else when you only want to spend two to four hours a week lifting weights?
At a gym, you can exercise only when the gym is open, and you can be limited by crowds. Working out at home gives you flexibility. You can work out in the morning, in the evening, or on alternate mornings and evenings to make the best use of your time.
Many gyms do not allow people under the age of 16 to use their facilities. This does not mean that people cannot start lifting weights before the age of 16. Weight training will not stunt your growth! On the contrary: The earlier you start, the greater the benefits. In this case, the only solution is to work out at home.
Weight training is more than a hobby. You must practice it seriously and not take it lightly. You are training to achieve results, not to pass the time. Unfortunately, most gyms do not want this kind of person as a member. Gyms emphasize the fun aspects of exercising and do not focus on effectiveness. This is why gyms often choose equipment that looks nice over equipment that works well.
Gyms certainly have a more social quality than your home can offer, but being social does not make your workout effective. Often, the opposite is true. Many gym members are not really there to work out. They go there to pass some time and to meet people. Sometimes gym patrons think it is strange to see people who are seriously working out.
In many gyms, the equipment choices were made based on cost rather than effectiveness. As a result, you will find equipment that is not effective and does not work well with human anatomy. This equipment is dangerous for muscles and joints.
At home, no one will disturb you while you are exercising in order to discuss the weather or to tell you that you are not exercising the right way. You will be able to remain focused and have a faster, more productive workout.
In a gym, your resting time is largely determined by other gym members. Your choice of exercises or equipment depends on what is available when you are working out. All of this rarely fits with the program you have set to meet your objectives. Circuit training, which is indispensable for athletes' weight training, is next to impossible in a gym. Working out at home grants you this freedom.
In front of other people, so as not to seem silly, people might perform their repetitions haphazardly with the goal of lifting as much as possible. Ultimately, this will mean slower progress and a greater risk of injury. At home, there is no one to impress. You can focus on effective work and not worry about what other people think.
The bigger a muscle is, the stronger it will be. However, you probably know of someone who is very strong but does not have large muscles. How can this paradox be explained? Muscle size is only one of the factors that determine muscle strength. The power of a muscle's contraction depends on the following five things:
Everything starts at the cerebral level: The command given to contract muscles goes through the nerves in the spinal cord. Motor neurons then carry the command to the muscle fibers. Each motor neuron controls the contraction of a specific group of fibers. The more motor neurons that are activated, the greater the quantity of muscle fibers that will contract. This is why training should be done with heavy weights. The heavier the weight you lift, the more motor nerves you will be able to use simultaneously.
Motor neurons can send electrical impulses to muscles with varying frequency. If the frequency is low, the muscle contracts sluggishly. However, motor neurons can send a flurry of intense impulses that act powerfully on muscle fibers. The intensity of your training develops your capacity to do the most repetitions possible with a heavy weight. Doing plyometrics also plays an important part in increasing the power of nerve impulses.
There is a strict correlation between the size of muscle fibers and the strength they are capable of developing. The stronger a section of muscle fibers that is linked to a motor neuron, the more force will be generated by a nerve impulse. You can develop muscle mass by performing weight training exercises with a weight that is around 80 percent of your maximum strength.
In a sedentary person, when motor neurons discharge their electrical impulses, they do so in a disorderly fashion. The muscle fibers contract in a random, and therefore inefficient, way. Through training, these discharges become synchronized. The fibers begin contracting in a coordinated manner. Muscles become more efficient. You can achieve this by doing weight training exercises with a weight that is close to your repetition maximum.
It is rare that you have to contract only one muscle at a time. Generally, a whole group of muscles is activated to produce a movement. When resistance becomes greater, the muscles of inexperienced athletes have a hard time working together in an efficient manner. You can see this when such athletes do pull-ups. They lean to one side more than the other. They cannot pull themselves up in a linear fashion and without jerky movements. The body shifts from front to back.
Through training, the quality of movement improves, simply because the arms will have learned to work together with the back muscles, and the muscles on the right side will be in synch with the muscles on the left side.
This gain in efficiency translates to an increase in strength. It is the same in all areas of fitness when you have to learn a new move. It is the volume of work, and therefore the repetition of a movement or an exercise, that improves intermuscular coordination.
Through regular weight training, an athlete's muscles become accustomed to working together. This advanced work means that an athlete can learn new movements more quickly if he has already been weight training for months.
In summary, among the elements we have described, the size of a muscle is just one of five factors of strength. To increase power and strength, your weight training program must also improve the four factors that are part of the central nervous system.
1. Rapid gains in strength that occur when you start weight training are not because of enlargement of the fibers. They are best explained by improvements in inter- and intramuscular coordination.
2. Therefore, just because you gain strength, at least in the beginning, it does not mean that your weight training program is well structured and that it will continue to help you progress quickly. Someone who is training well can gain strength if only because he is learning to execute movements better.
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