Body Conquest: Time to Conquer
This month we look at correcting lumbar lordosis, good leg-training practises and readdressing the issue of training for fat loss.
Q: My doctor has told me that I have ‘lumbar lordosis’. What exactly is that and how does it affect my training?
A: First and foremost, I am not a Doctor. However, I can offer you some insight into what lumbar lordosis is. It is an excessive lumbar curve, which is associated with an increased pelvic tilt. (This can be exaggerated by carrying too much weight around the stomach region.) The iliopsoas and quadriceps muscles will probably be over-tight and short. Conversely, the gluteus maximus, hamstrings and lower abdominals are likely to be weak and lengthened.
With this condition it is important to regain function in the transverse abdominis. Quite often the psoas muscle has become facilitated, which means it becomes overactive. Shortening of the psoas pulls the vertebral column and pelvis forward causing shearing of the spine. The psoas muscle will require stretching. The gluteus maximus also requires strengthening to pull the pelvis back into realignment.
Work with your doctor and physio as they will be in the best position to show you which exercises and stretches you should perform.
Q: I want to drop body fat so I am incorporating cardio into my workouts, straight after my weight training. Problem is, I’m not sure whether to train in ‘the fat burning zone’, or to train at a higher intensity? What do you think is best for getting ripped?
A: People are still getting confused about this, so yet again, I will try and clarify this issue. Studies by Dr George Brooks from the University of California, Berkeley, showed that the body uses mainly fats for fuel at rest and low exercise intensities. Above 65 per cent of maximum effort the body switches abruptly to carbohydrates and uses much less fat. The rate of fat breakdown in fat cells also decreases with increasing exercise intensity. Therefore in the past, the best exercise to lose body fat and get ‘ripped’ has looked like a no-brainer: train at a lower intensity because you use fat as fuel.
However, you lose more body fat in a 24 hour period when you train with higher intensities because you use more carbs as fuel, increase your calorie expenditure after exercise (EPOC) and you metabolise more calories during the exercise itself. The total daily energy use is more important for fat loss than the kinds of fuel used during exercise.
An eight month Duke University study led by Dr Chris Slentz showed that people could lose fat through exercise alone without dieting. The average energy intake was slightly more than 2000 calories per day. People who exercised intensely lost much more fat than those who trained moderately. So, pick up the pace if you want to drop fat!
(Nutrition, 20: 716-727, 2004)
Q: I have just hooked up with a training buddy but I haven’t been training for very long. I was wondering if you could give me some spotting tips for the bench press and the squat? I don’t want to let him down.
A: Sure. A good spotter can make the difference between a worthwhile set and a pointless exercise. To help you spot your buddy properly here are a few things to do:
With the bench press, you make sure that you use good form too! Keep your knees bent and your back flat. Get as close to the bench as you can so that you aren’t leaning too far over, leaving yourself open to injury.
Synchronise your lift-off. The lifter always decides when the lift is to occur, not the spotter. If you are too early or too late, rhythm will be compromised so make sure you communicate and listen to the lifter.
It’s a personal choice, but most people prefer you to have your hands on the bar all the way through the set, so that when failure sets in you are already there to help immediately.
Make him push towards you. Most beginners tend to push the bar straight up. As they begin the positive portion of the rep: guide them slightly towards you so that they are actually pushing up and back. This will keep them in the groove, promote greater chest development and improve their bench press.
Help them rack the weight at the end of the set.
With the squat, its safety, safety, safety. With that in mind:
Make sure the safety bars are in place, just below your bottom point. No matter how deep you think you squat, bars set two feet high won’t help you much.
Don’t be shy about touching your buddy. Put your arms around him, (under his arms), with your hands supporting his lower chest and ribcage. (Spotting him around his waist is useless).
As your partner descends, so do you. You will learn your partner’s rhythm as the set continues. Slight pressure can be used to promote a slow, gradual descent.
Keep him moving at the core. As your partner begins to fatigue, he will have more trouble getting out of the hole. As you support him at the chest and ribcage, pull him towards the ceiling.
Finally, walk your partner back to the rack. If he has just completed an excruciating set of deep squats, walking a few inches to the racks can feel like a long mile.
Q: I have noticed that lots of professional bodybuilders cite that they don’t train abdominals very often. How come?
A: These highly trained athletes have spent many hours training with weights and eating a nutritionally sound diet. Although there is always scope for further improvement and development, the abdominal area often develops quickly and subsequently needs less training. Too much ab work can in fact excessively build the midsection, especially the obliques, which can detract from overall symmetry. It does this by making the waist appear wider, which ruins the V shaped physique. Professional bodybuilders don’t want to build up this body part as it won’t win those shows.
Q: I’m having difficulty recovering from my once a week leg training sessions. My legs are sore for at least three days after, making it difficult to keep up my cardio (sprint training). Is there anything I can do to recover more quickly or reduce the soreness?
A: Firstly, re-evaluate how hard and how often you train legs. You could be trying to do too much at one time. One solution may be to train less heavy on your leg day. If you go a little lighter you may be able to keep up your sprinting as well.
Another solution could be to train legs lighter but more often. When you train once a week, your muscles have plenty of time to recover, but they forget how hard you trained them before. So when you go back and blast them again, it’s like starting over and you have that beginning soreness again. But it you kick up training frequency, muscle soreness is usually reduced because your muscle recognises what you are asking it to do.
Or, you may just have to change your cardio schedule. I can never do cardio straight after a leg workout, and often not the day after either. You need the right amount of time for you to let the muscle recover. If you don’t give them that time you will go into the dangerous territory of overtraining — and you don’t want to halt your progress by doing that.
Q: What is ‘instinctive training’ and how do I apply it?
A: Normally, an organised and goal focused trainee will have a periodisation plan, made up of macro and micro cycles. Every training session has a plan and a purpose, with mini goals planted within the session. But, as someone once said… “If you want to make God laugh, create a plan”. Every plan has hiccups and deviations, even if the end goal is written in stone, occasionally the path you take to get there takes a change in direction.
Instinctive training, by its very name, suggests that we are guided by our ‘instincts’ to a particular action or behaviour. Sometimes this is reflective in our training patterns. I call it “listening to your body”, although it can be attributed to your mind, or your “head space” on a particular given day. For example, you may be according to your plan, due to train biceps and triceps. However you may not have recovered properly from your chest or back workout. You simply do not feel like involving your upper body at all on that day. Therefore, you may be inclined to swap body parts and train legs instead. Instinctive training is not relegated to just one variable such as body parts; it can be applied to choice of exercises, intensity levels, sets, reps, weight and any other training variable out there.
Instinctive training means you are really paying attention to all physical and mental indicators of how you should train. Muscle fatigue, aches and pains, malaise, under enthusiasm, lack of sleep and extra outside stresses may all contribute to a change of exercise structure.
It takes anywhere from years to decades to achieve training sensitivity depending on one’s affinity for exercise, desire and need for achievement, and intelligence and attention toward the goal. Training needs to be assessed regularly to prevent or eliminate misdirection, brain washing and bad habits. It means that if you feel that you should train in a different way to the way you had planned, then that’s what you do. You are listening to your body and mental state and co-aligning your plan with your instincts to make the best of each and every training session.
Ingrid Barclay is the owner of Body Conquest, an elite personal training service specialising in contest preparation for men and women. Ingrid is a Master Trainer of 17 years, author of “Go Figure” and a NABBA/WFF judge who has helped numerous competitors to compete at their very best. Ingrid can be contacted on 0424 180 093 or at www.bodyconquest.com.au IM
