Key Nutrients - Carbohydrates

In short, carbohydrates are foods that provide you with energy - carbohydrates being your primary energy source. Second being fats and finally protein. Hopefully, breads, cereals, rice, pasta, fruit and vegetables being your main sources of carbohydrates throughout the day.

Broken down through the digestive process, carbohydrates are metabolised into Glucose - some going to fuel brain activity and most of the remainder stored in the liver and muscles as Glycogen.

There are three categories of carbohydrates - Monosaccharides (simple sugars), Disaccharides (dual combination of simple sugars), Polysaccharides (chain of simple sugars, Starches). Simple sugars and starches are commonly referred to as simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates respectively. Simple carbohydrates are foods that give a quick increase in blood sugars, complex carbohydrates giving a slow increase in blood sugars. Most food items are now labelled with a ranking system (Glycemic Index) to indentify this.

To find out more, please visit gymprofessor.com

Best regards,

GP 

The Flat Bench Press

Probably the most familiar of chest exercises and the primary compound exercise for chest workouts - the Flat Bench Press. Below are a list of the key steps you should follow to mimic correct exercise technique and what muscles are at work.

If you're confused about what gym exercises to perform and when? You should consider reviewing the sample Gym Workouts and Gym Routines.

Key Steps to performing the Flat Bench Press correctly:

For this exercise, you require a spotter.

1) Ensure that gym equipment is set up correctly - bench, bar, weights etc. The bar should be empty (free of weight) at this stage.

2) Lie down flat on the bench, sliding underneath the barbell. The bar should be resting on the lift-offs directly above your eyes. The bar should be empty (free from weight) at this stage.

3) Grip the bar with your hands roughly shoulder-width plus one hand-width on either side. Remember this grip point in correlation with the bar's knurling.

4) Inhale as you lower the bar downward to touch your mid chest - a weight will typically be drawn or lowered to the area/ muscles being worked!. At this point your arms should form a right angle (ask your spotter to check). If your arms do not, you will need to adjust your grip width accordingly. Exhale, and the press the bar up.

5) Repeat the exercise for the given number of repetitions Do not lock your elbows out at the top of the movement and do not bounce the bar off your chest.

6) Warm Up. Warm up with little or no weight, performing 3 to 4 sets of 10 reps or more, in order to lubricate joints and raise local muscle temperature.

7) For your working sets, select an appropriate weight that allows you to achieve your target repetition range in a safe and controlled manner.

Muscle worked during the Flat Bench Press:

Primary Muscles: Pectoralis Major - Mid Sternal Fibres.

Secondary Muscles: Anterior Deltoids, Triceps, Serratus Anterior, Anconeus.

Stabilizing Muscles: Lateral Deltoids, Rectus Addominis, Transversus Abdominis, Forearm Flexors...

For further chest exercises, visit the Gym Professor exercise diagram library.

Best regards,

Gym P. 

Plyometrics

For many, many, many years exercises such as bounding, hopping, & jumping, have been used with warm-up and fitness drills for various fitness disciplines and sports, often exercising muscles and mimicking movements involved in those sports or disciplines (so, sport-specific exercises). This distinct method of explosive training is nowadays generally termed "plyometrics" and plyometric drills are commonplace to help improve athletic performance.

Plyometrics is based on the theory that a muscle will contract more forcefully following a pre-stretch because, although much of the energy used to stretch the muscle is lost through heat, a certain amount of elasticity will remain, and so aid the force of the contraction, subsequently, in practice, this will enable someone having performed plyometric jumping drills for several weeks, to be able to jump higher or further than they may otherwise have done.

Unknowingly, you probably perform many plyometric exercises when training for your sport, but, as with all things, it certainly helps your development to understand what you're performing and why and, if you're not performing certain drills, perhaps your performance will improve with their inclusion into your training.

Below are examples of some plyometric exercises and drills, but, for further information, Donald Chu has written some very useful books, Jumping Into Plyometrics is a particularly easy to follow and useful handbook.

Visit www.gymprofessor.com to find more information about:

Jumps in Place

Multiple Jumps

Standing Jumps

Depth Jumps

Bounding

Medicine Ball Drills

Box Drills

Sport-Specific Plyometrics

Recovery from Plyometric Exercise

Best regards,

Gym P.

L-Methionine

I'm a bit pushed for time today - presently sat in a mall doing some last minute Valentine shopping :-(. Subsequently, as I was asked about L-Methionine earlier today, I thought I'd cover this amino acid in brief detail....

Your search for L-Methionine is most likely due to its relationship with Creatine - L-Methionine is one of three Amino Acids (the other two being L-Arginine and L-Glycine) required to produce energy-rich Creatine.

L-Methionine was first isolated from Casein (commonly called milk protein, as it accounts for 80% of milk protein, the other 20% being whey) and is synthesised by L-Aspartic Acid and synthesises into L-Cysteine to act on Gluthione (tri-peptide made up the Amino Acids L-Glutamic Acid, L-Cysteine, and L-Glycine) for liver detoxifying. L-Methionine is also important for health of hair, nails and skin.

Contraindications: Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, pregnancy.

Food sources include: Meat, Eggs, Dairy Products, Fish, Beans.

Please visit the Gym Professor website to find out more about the following:

Amino Acids

Dietary Protein

Nitrogen Balance

Protein Requirements

Protein Source Comparisons

Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER)

Biological Value (BV)

Net Protein Utilisation (NPU)

Protein Fractions

Protein Supplementation

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Happy training,

Gym P. 

Amino Acids

Amino Acids are the building blocks of protein. Amino Acids are linked in various sequences and chains (polypeptides), thus accounting for the vast variety of different proteins manufactured by the body. Likewise, our dietary protein differs, and it's subsequent utilisation by the body.

Scientists have attempted to measure utilisation rates of different sources of dietary protein, creating various forms of measure, such as Protein Efficieny Ratio (PER) and Biological Value (BV), which you may've come across on the back of your protein supplements tub.

Other tags, relating to Amino Acids, which you may be familiar with (from reading the back of protein supplements), are the prefix "L" and the noting "BCAA".

An "L" prefix denotes a naturally occurring amino acid. The opposite "D" (which you're probably not so familiar with) is synthetic, and is not normally useful to the body.

"BCAA" is short for Branch Chain Amino Acids. Bonded in a chain configuartion, the BCAA's - Leucine, Isoleucine, Valine - collectively form the largest Amino section of human protein (about 33% of MUSCLE protein!).

Naturally occurring Amino Acids are further categorised as "essential", which means that they cannot be made by the body (&, subsequently, have to be included in the diet), and "non-essential", which can be made by the body (NB: Although, still benefical within diet).

A list has been made below, click on each link to find out more info. on each individual Amino Acid. However, it must be remembered that many work hand-in-hand, and adequate amounts of protein, and good sources of protein (remember, this is what Amino Acids collectively form), are of greater importance and benefit than simply supplementing high dosages of certain Amino's.

Essential Amino Acids:

L-Isoleucine (BCAA)
L-Leucine (BCAA)
L-Lysine
L-Methionine
L-Phenylalanine
L-Threonine
L-Tryptophan
L-Valine (BCAA)

Non-Essential Amino Acids:

L-Alanine
L-Arginine*
L-Asparagine
L-Aspartic Acid
L-Cysteine
L-Glutamine
L-Glutamic Acid
L-Glycine
L-Histidine*
L-Ornithine
L-Proline
L-Serine
Taurine**
L-Tyrosine

*These are regarded as "semi-essential". The reason, they can be made by the adult body, but babies and young children may not be able to manufacture enough for their needs.

**Taurine does not have an "L" prefix as it only exists in one form. Furthermore, Taurine's unusual as it's not incorporated into proteins in the body (likewise, L-Ornithine).

Tell me more about:

Amino Acids
Dietary Protein
Nitrogen Balance
Protein Requirements
Protein Source Comparisons
Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER)
Biological Value (BV)
Net Protein Utilisation (NPU)
Protein Fractions
Protein Supplementation

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Gym P.

Weight Training General Knowledge

Sad I (Gym P.) know, but weight training is one of the loves of my life. No matter what your physique goal or sporting activity, weight training can help toward this endeavor. There are many widespread misconceptions about training with weights (or any type of resistance training for that matter), not helped by misleading advertising, but, hopefully the Gym Professor site & my constant use of analogies will help to clarify things and set you on the right track.

Realising that many of you will be looking for guidance, the Gym Professor website includes:

Numerous exercise diagrams - providing basic instruction and detailing muscles exercised, what the exercise is for & who the exercise is for.
Weight training & gym routines - relating to your physique goals & sports.
Periodization strategies - for general training and sports.
Fitness assessments - performing fitness tests & measuring hopefully positive trends.
& Much more besides...

For successful weight training, I would suggest you have a basic understanding of nutrition and anatomy (in particular kinesiology). Information on both can be found on the Gym Professor website.

Incredibly helpful & thorough eBooks will be released over time, with in-depth information and even more guidance on the above subject matters. So, if you find the Gym Professor website useful, please consider purchasing one of our great eBooks. In the meantime, please be sure to subscribe to this blog, our newsletter and visit our advertisers.

Cheers,

Gym P.