Backpacking the Northwest

For most people, getting started is the hardest part of exercising. Hey we’re all human.. No excuses just make your decision and watch out for the common pitfalls ahead. Some of those include:

• Your Family, friends, and work or school obligations

•   Don’t feel you truly have the time it takes

•   Really believe you don’t know where to start, or you feel you have failed in the past and it will only happen again

Any of these sound like your reality? not to worry OK, you’re not alone. The place to help is right here..

Yes its true, your the only one who can make the decision and the time to exercise, but since your reading this, maybe some of my information can help you to learn what to do, when you need to do it, and why the hell are you doing it.

Here are some basic steps to follow to get you started you on your way.

1. Learn about what you need to know in order to start exercising. Jump over to the “You need to know this” page, to read and understand it.
2. Learn about what you don’t need to know about exercising. Jump over to the ” ” to read and enjoy a laugh or two.
3. Learn some basic exercises and stretches that you can do right away as you get started. Jump over to the “Basic Exercises & Simple Stretches page” Read and practice these things as shown, and guess what… Your on your Way!

Don’t forget, Nutrition is your foundation, so with that in mind;

1. Stay tuned to learn the “Fundamental Nutrition Principles” and how to incorporate them in your daily life.

Here are a few good options:

* Good Morning Exercise
Keep a bar with some weight on your shoulders. Bend at the waist with your knees bent a little and the back straight till the trunk is parallel to the ground. Relax in the upright position and repeat.

* Hamstring Stretch
Lie on your back and hold on the back of your thigh, lift the knee 90* above the ground and straighten it until it exerts a mild stretch on the back of the thigh. This exercise helps increase the muscle flexibility and reduce the stress on the lower back exerted through the pelvis.

* Piriformis Stretch
Lying on your back, cross the right leg over the left knee, grasp the back of the left thigh and pull the knee close to the chest. This stretch helps in the overall flexibility of the pelvic region.

* Psoas Stretch
Lying on your back, bend the knee close to the chest and clasp it just below the knee.

* Pelvic Stretch
Lying on your back, fold your arms, bend the knees and soles directed to the floor. Without supporting the hands, lift your buttocks off the floor and slowly rest them back.

* Hip Stretch
Lying on your back at the edge of the bed, hold your knees to the chest. Keeping one knee in bending position, lower the other knee till a stretch is felt on the hips.

* Abdominal Curl Ups
Three types of abdominal curls given below can be practiced separately. Lie on your back with knees bend. Lift up your trunk and try to reach below the knees, try reaching the knees with the elbows, and bending forward with the hands folded behind the head.

* Lumbar Extension Stretch
Lie on your abdomen and slowly use your forearms to raise your upper body above the ground, and then lie down again. This back arching is important to help in stabilizing the spine.

I think these tips apply to all of us who are Endurance Hikers / Backpackers too!

( I know this is from the Powerbar website, and I am not trying to plug them on purpose, but hey its good info so I left it intact..)

By: Fiona Lockhart, CTS Pro Coach

An abundance of information exists for endurance athletes; sometimes too much. It can become quite difficult to figure out exactly what you should and shouldn’t do in training because many sources have conflicting information. Below are some of the myths that seem to be perpetuated over and over again, even though the scientific research doesn’t back it up.

1. There’s no point in doing high-intensity workouts if you’re training for a long-distance event, like a marathon, since you’ll never be going that hard during the event.
   No matter what the event you are training for, it’s useful to change up the intensity of your workouts to make sure you work all your physiological systems, as well as to prevent physical and mental staleness. Research has shown that athletes who perform sprint workouts were able to improve their longer-term endurance performance. That doesn’t mean that you do high-intensity intervals, like sprints or hill repeats, all the time, but adding them to your total training mix will make you a better athlete.
2. If you want to lose weight, go out and ride or run for long periods of time without eating. If you train in the morning, don’t eat beforehand.
   No, no, no, no, no. Your body needs fuel in order to perform at its best. If you try to train without sufficient fuel stores, not only will you wear yourself out in the long run, but your immediate workout will have only a fraction of the quality it should have. Consume gels, sports drinks and/or bars to maintain a steady supply of carbohydrate during your workout. Make sure you also take advantage of recovery nutrition, like the POWERBAR® Recovery shake, within 30 minutes of the end of your training bout; this will maximize those glycogen stores so you can come back and train hard the next day.If you train in the morning, have something to eat before you start out. Your body burns through glycogen while you are sleeping; and your training will suffer from reduced fuel stores in the morning if you don’t refuel. If your body doesn’t tolerate solid foods before early-morning workouts, try a POWERBAR® Endurance sport drink.If you are trying to lose weight, think about cutting calories at times away from your training, not near to or during it.
3. Losing weight will always improve your performance.
   While a light, lean body is certainly a benefit for endurance events, don’t overdo it. Just because someone else can perform effectively at a given weight doesn’t mean you should be at that same weight. If you’re trying to lose weight, do it slowly and gradually so that you can continue to fuel your body sufficiently to support your training. If your weight is going down, but your power output and performance are diminishing as well, you may very well be too lean for your own good.
4. When doing strength training, always do lots of repetitions so that you don’t bulk up.
   In order to reap the most gains from a strength training program, you need to lift a significant amount of weight in a relatively short period of time. After you have done a few weeks of light weight, moderate repetitions (i.e. 12-15 reps) to allow your tendons, ligaments, and muscles to adapt to the rigors of strength training, you will need to raise the amount of weight and lower the number of repetitions in order to maximize your strength gains. Don’t worry; unless you’re spending 5 days a week, 4+ hours in the gym (and you shouldn’t be, if you’re an endurance athlete), you won’t get “muscle-bound”!
5. To really be competitive, you need to train more than 15 hours a week.
   If this were the case, there would be very few competitive athletes over the age of 30. Let’s face it, with work, family, and other obligations we contend with as we get older, it can be difficult to find many hours of training time during the week. But that’s okay, because you can still train effectively with limited time.With fewer hours available to work out, establishing a structured training program becomes of paramount importance. Figure out how many hours and days you can train, and then set specific goals for each training day (i.e. lactate threshold workouts, sprint intervals). Then be consistent with that schedule. Not only will you continue to get stronger and faster, but you may also find that your performance gains are even greater than when you had more training time, because you are now forced to work with a specific plan.

Sedentary life ’speeds up ageing’

Leading a sedentary lifestyle may make us genetically old before our time, a study suggests. A study of twins found those who were physically active during their leisure time appeared biologically younger than their sedentary peers.

The researchers found key pieces of DNA called telomeres shortened more quickly in inactive people. It is thought that could signify faster cellular ageing.

The King’s College London study appears in Archives of Internal Medicine.

An active lifestyle has been linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

However, the latest research suggests that inactivity not only makes people more vulnerable to disease, but may actually speed up the ageing process itself.

The King’s team studied 2,401 white twins, asking them to fill out questionnaires on their level of physical activity, and taking a blood sample from which DNA was extracted.

They particularly focused on telomeres, the repeat sequences of DNA that sit on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage.

As people age, their telomeres become shorter, leaving cells more susceptible to damage and death.

Examining white blood cells from the immune system in particular, the researchers found that, on average, telomeres lost 21 component parts – called nucleotides – every year.

But men and women who were less physically active in their leisure time had shorter leukocyte telomeres compared to those who were more active.

The average telomere length in those who took the least amount of exercise – 16 minutes of physical activity a week – was 200 nucleotides shorter than those who took the most exercise – 199 minutes of physical activity a week, such as running, tennis or aerobics.

The most active people had telomeres of a length comparable to those found in inactive people who were up to 10 years’ younger, on average.

Direct comparison of twins who had different levels of physical activity produced similar results.

Impact of stress

The researchers suggest that physically inactive people may be more vulnerable to the damage caused to cells by exposure to oxygen, and to inflammation.

Stress is also thought to have an impact on telomere length, and the researchers suggest people who exercise regularly may help to reduce their stress levels.

Writing in the journal, the researchers said: “Our results show that adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals.

“This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-ageing effect of regular exercise.”

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Jack Guralnik, of the US National Institute on Aging, said more work was needed to show a direct relationship between ageing and physical activity.

He said: “Persons who exercise are different from sedentary persons in many ways, and although certain variables were adjusted for in this analysis, many additional factors could be responsible for the biological differences between active and sedentary persons.

“Nevertheless, this article serves as one of many pieces of evidence that telomere length might be targeted in studying ageing outcomes.”

by Rich Kassel
December 2007

Earlier this month, Mountain Equipment Co-op, the “REI of Canada,” pulled its Nalgene bottles from its shelves, citing concern over potential health risks. It seems that those iconic bottles (Neat colors! Cool graphics! Originally used in laboratories!) that are ubiquitous in backpacks, dorm rooms and office refrigerators are made of a type of plastic that has been linked with infertility, lower sperm counts, enlarged prostrate glands, pre-cancerous lesions in breast and prostate tissue, and other symptoms of hormone disruption.

How many New Yorkers carry a Nalgene bottle with them wherever they go because they want a reusable, environmentally preferable alternative to bottled water? How many New Yorkers carry a Nalgene bottle for their children wherever they go because they fear that softer plastic baby bottles will leach hormone-disrupting phthalates, especially when filled with acidic juices? How many New Yorkers carry a Nalgene bottle wherever they go, just because the bottles are nearly unbreakable and are really colorful?

And, reading this now, how many New Yorkers suddenly feel like Charlie Brown does, whenever Lucy pulls the football away from him, one more time? Like Charlie Brown, how many Nalgene-carrying New Yorkers will learn about this latest health risk and want to shout ‘Aaaarrrrggghhhhh!”

The Polycarbonate Problem

Before you fill your Nalgene bottle with cement and jump in the Hudson River, here are some basics:

Most Nalgene bottles are made from polycarbonate. (You can distinguish polycarbonate from other plastics because the polycarbonate bottles have the number 7 in the little recycling triangle on the bottom). Polycarbonate is a form of plastic that is comprised mostly of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor that mimics the female hormone, estrogen. In animal studies, BPA has been associated with the abnormalities listed above, as well as with obesity and insulin resistance – a condition that commonly precedes the development of diabetes. If all that wasn’t bad enough, BPA also has been shown in animal studies to cause changes in behavior. (Could it have been his Nalgene bottle — and not the steroids — that caused an enraged Roger Clemens to throw a broken bat at Mike Piazza during Game 2 of the 2000 World Series?)

Not surprisingly, industry-funded studies have failed to find these same effects. And, the jump from animal studies to human impacts is an imperfect one, so there is a lot of controversy around the toxic effects of BPA. Although we can’t say with certainty that BPA causes the same problems in humans as it does in the laboratory animals, the weight of scientific evidence should prompt us to err on the side of caution and avoid BPA exposures where possible.

We also know that more than 90 percent of the general population carries residues of BPA in their bodies. How is that possible? After all, not everybody drinks from Nalgene bottles. But the BPA chemical is ubiquitous. Epoxy resins containing BPA line the cans of tomato sauce and leach into the sauce, thanks to the acidity of the tomatoes. It lines the insides of your Coke and juice cans—whoops, there’s that acid-enhanced leaching again. Canned fruits? Yup, you’ll find BPA in those cans too. Here are some other BPA sources: the insides of the cans of infant formula, some dental sealants and even that polycarbonate pitcher that came with your Brita filter.

What You Can Do

Eliminating exposure to BPA is probably close to impossible, given its ubiquity. But reducing exposure to this chemical makes sense, especially for children (their developing bodies are especially prone to the health impacts of endocrine disruptors like BPA). Avoiding polycarbonate bottles is one step in reducing exposure to endocrine disruptors. (An important note here: Although Nalgene has become the “Kleenex” of the polycarbonate world, all polycarbonate bottles contain BPA, so you should avoid bottles with that little “7″ in the recycling triangle, whether they come from Nalgene, Starbucks or your Brita filter system.) If you use these bottles, recognize that high temperatures (e.g., your dishwasher), acidic liquids (e.g., juice), and any discoloration or cracking due to age are all likely to increase BPA leaching.

There are better options for storing drinks: an unlined stainless steel container (e.g. Klean Kanteen) or another type of plastic container, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, which doesn’t contain BPA. (Look for the number 1, 2, or 5 in the recycling triangle on the bottom of the container.)

Second, recognize that more of our collective exposures are likely to come from BPA in cans especially if the contents are highly acidic such as a tomato-based product or soda. San Marzano tomatoes may be the best for cooking, but buying them in glass or those milk carton-like boxes will keep BPA out of the sauce. Likewise, canned pineapple may have been the only way to eat that fruit when we were kids, but now buying fresh is the BPA-free way to enjoy it.

Want to find out more? The Environmental Working Group, California, and a group called Environmental Defence in Canada all have good information on their websites.

Follow these strategies to design your ultimate workout

Nail a goal

And make it attainable and detailed. According to a 2005 American College of Sports Medicine study, women who set smaller, specific goals are 30 percent likelier to reach them than those who shoot for big, general ones. To keep things simple, pick one of these (the three most often heard by trainers): a toned upper body; flat, bikini-worthy abs; or a strong, lean lower body. Then write down a weekly plan or register at traineo.com. This site not only helps track your workouts, it also lets you enter up to four motivators (coworker, boyfriend, whoever) who will get weekly progress reports via e-mail. If you slack, it’s their job to harass you.

PICK SIX MOVES

“Lifting weights two to three times a week is enough to get noticeable results without spending hours each day in the gym,” says Tom Terwilliger, owner of Terwilliger Fitness in Denver. “But this means you need to hit every major muscle group whenever you work out.” Aim for six moves per workout and be sure to target all your key parts (abs, arms, back, chest, glutes, and legs). Use this chart to choose your moves. In all, the sequence shouldn’t take longer than about five songs on your workout playlist.

Toned Upper Body

Work your chest – 1 move, back – 2 move, arms – 1 move, core – 1 move, lower body – 1 move

Flat Abs

Work your core – 3 move, chest – 1 move, back – 1 move, lower body – 1 move

Lean Lower Body

Work your glutes – 2 move, quads – 1 move, hamstrings – 1 move, upper body – 1 move, core – 1 move

PLACE YOUR ORDER

How many times have you saved your least favorite move for the end, only to rush through it while debating whether your postgym beer counts as hydration? In a 2007 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers found that women couldn’t do as many reps toward the end of their workout. “You lose mental focus, and your muscles fatigue during a strength session,” says Jeffrey Willardson, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the University of Eastern Illinois. Tackle the moves tied to your goal at the beginning of your workout when you have the most energy.

Some other general rules to lift by:

IF YOU WANT A TONED UPPER BODY

Think big, then small. Do chest and upper-back exercises before targeting your smaller arm muscles, since you end up working your biceps and triceps in most upper-body moves. If you’ve already exhausted them with isolating moves, you won’t get as much out of anything you do afterward.

IF YOU WANT FLAT ABS

Squeeze them in. To get a firm, flat midsection even faster, insert a core exercise between your lower- and upper-body moves. “It will reactivate those muscles so they’re constantly engaged during the workout,” Terwilliger says. “It keeps them firing.”

IF YOU WANT A LEAN LOWER BODY

Start with your bum. Hit it first and hit it hard. Because your glutes are the biggest muscles of all, your rear end burns more calories than any other body part.

GET YOUR NUMBERS STRAIGHT

Reps The number of times you repeat a move is what strengthens your muscle fibers. How many reps do you need? That depends on your goal. If you want to…

Maximize strength Do 4 to 6 reps with a weight heavy enough that you can barely get through the last one.

Maximize power (how fast the muscle can move): Do 8 to 12 reps.

Maximize endurance Do 15 to 25 reps.

Sets Breaking up moves into groups of repetitions, or sets, allows you to get through more reps — because you can rest in between. Doing 3 sets is enough to challenge the muscle completely, Willardson says. If you’re pressed for time, do 1 set of each move rather than skipping a move or two and doing all 3 sets. Studies show that you get 50 to 90 percent of your strength gains from your first set.

Load Generally, choose a weight that makes finishing your last set with good form barely doable. But once every four to six sessions, opt for a heft that leaves you totally spent after 4 to 6 reps (and, no, this doesn’t get you out of the remaining 2 sets). This activates your fast-twitch muscles — needed for short bursts of strength. “In everyday life, they don’t get called on as often as other muscle fibers,” says Mike Godard, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at Western Illinois University. “So they’re especially important to pay attention to in the gym.”

Rest between sets Once a month, your body makes hormones that seem like evildoers. But every time you work out you produce growth hormone — your ally in the fight for a halter-ready body. Growth hormone levels spike following an individual set of moves and help amino acids — what protein is made of — latch on to and feed the muscle so it can grow stronger. The key to gaining strength is to keep your recovery time to 30 to 60 seconds, Willardson says, so hormone levels are consistently amped and ready to help fuel your muscles.

TWEAK AS YOU GO

Once every 4 weeks, switch up your moves, weight, sets, reps, and/or rest. This will prevent your muscles from plateauing like a crap day for the Dow.

Photo by: Nick Ruechel

Appeared in the June 2007 issue of Women’s Health

 VO2max?

Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be used by the body for maximal sustained power output (exercise). Since the body uses oxygen to convert food into energy (ATP), the more oxygen you can consume, the more energy, power, or speed you can produce. VO2max defines an endurance athlete’s performance ceiling, or the size of his or her “engine.” Research has shown that VO2max significantly determines performance in endurance-based events such as cycling, triathlon, running, and Nordic skiing.

Remember, however, that VO2max is only one piece of the rider’s performance puzzle. Ability to perform in a race also depends on lactate threshold, appropriate peaking, nutrition and tactics (to name just a few).

Let’s return to the “engine” analogy. If we were to race two cars, one a dragster with a large engine and the second a stock car with a much smaller engine, which one would win? You can’t say. If we raced them a quarter mile down a drag strip, the dragster with a larger engine would win. However, if we raced them 400 miles, the stock car would win even with a smaller engine. Why? The dragster may be fast for short bursts, but it can’t maintain its speed for an extended period of time. The same is true with two cyclists. If Bill had a high VO2max but a moderate LT, and Tom had a moderate VO2max but a ridiculously high LT, Tom would likely find himself victorious in a head to head race up L’Alpe d’Huez. Although Bill has a higher VO2max, Tom can maintain a higher workload for a longer period of time. We’ll elaborate on this more next week when we discuss lactate threshold.

How is VO2 Max measured?

Many endurance athletes already have some idea of what a VO2max test entails: an incremental increase in exercise effort until the participant is unable to continue increasing his or her workload. The athlete can perform the test using any number of exercises: running, cycling, rowing, and even swimming. Because VO2max will vary between sports for various individuals, athletes will generally perform the test in his or her preferred sport. Regardless of the testing modality used, all the tests do the same thing. They take a happy-go-lucky individual and turn him or her into a grimacing, suffering, and most importantly, gasping test subject. As exercise intensity increases, a machine calculates oxygen consumption (VO2) by collecting and analyzing the test subject’s inspired and expired air. With each incremental increase in power output by the athlete, more muscle mass is employed and more oxygen consumed. VO2 will thus increase linearly with exercise intensity until the body reaches its maximum ability to consume oxygen. At this point, oxygen consumption will level off, or plateau, when the subject reaches his or her VO2max.

Once the test analyzes the data, the athlete is given a numerical value of his or her VO2max. This number can be expressed in two forms. The first is called your absolute VO2max (liters O2/minute) and will likely fall between 3.0-6.0 l/min if you’re male, and 2.5-4.5 l/min if you’re female. The second is called your relative VO2max (milliliters O2/kilogram body weight/minute). For those who recall their science classes, the difference is in the units that follow the number. The relative VO2max takes into account the athlete’s body weight, whereas absolute VO2max does not. You can, therefore, impress you friends by quickly increasing your relative VO2max by merely losing some weight!

There are a few requirements to have a useful and representative VO2max test:

    * The test must employ at least 50 percent of the test subject’s total muscle mass. Sports such as cycling, running, swimming and Nordic skiing all qualify. (Note that VO2max values for cyclists are generally 5-10 percent lower than those of runners or Nordic skiers due to less active muscle mass being utilized.)

    * The test must be of sufficient duration to maximize cardiovascular responses. The length of suffering is usually 6-15 min.

    * Finally, a highly motivated individual must perform the test. (The more pain and suffering during the test, the better the data).

How do you measure up?

The following are examples of absolute and relative VO2max values of untrained, moderately trained, and elite aerobic individuals.

FEMALE Training Status

UntrainedTrainedEliteAbsolute(l/min)< 3.03.0->3.0Relative 26-4240-6055+

MALE Training Status

UntrainedTrainedEliteAbsolute(l/min)< 3.03.5->4.0Relative 36-5250-7060+

Source: Costill, D.L. and Wilmore, J.H. (1994). Cardiorespiratory Function and Performance. Physiology of Sport and Exercise. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Factors affecting VO2max

There are three primary factors that can affect VO2max: altitude, age and gender.

    * Altitude: An increase in altitude results in a decrease in air density and the partial pressure (or amount) of oxygen in the air. Therefore, you can expect a 5-7 percent loss in VO2max from sea level to 5,000 feet.

    * Age: Peak physiological function occurs at about 30 years of age. VO2max decreases approximately 30 percent between the ages of 20 and 65, with the greatest decline after age 40. However, decreases in VO2max can be extremely variable and can – at least partially – be offset by training.

    * Gender: In general, females tend to have lower VO2max values than males (15 percent to 20 percent less). This is primarily due to differences in body composition, hemoglobin content in the blood, and heart size. Females, on average, have a higher percentage of body fat, lower content of hemoglobin in their blood, and have a smaller adaptation of heart size in response to endurance and resistance training. It is important to note that these differences are “in general” – there are always exceptions.

What does it all mean?

Well, it depends on who you are and how much your have already been training when you take your VO2max test. Research has determined that approximately 80 percent of an individual’s VO2max is genetically determined. Depending on your current training level, VO2max may be enhanced through progressive endurance training. Untrained individuals have the potential to increase their VO2max by 15-20 percent, but well-trained athletes are unlikely to realize an increase in VO2max of greater than 3-5 percent. So, if you’ve been training well for the past year and your VO2max is in the 50’s, don’t hold your breath to be the next Lance. The good news is that your lactate threshold is highly trainable, and elevating your LT will put the hurt on your friends or fellow racers. Since many elite athletes share comparable VO2max values, lactate threshold is often a better measure of fitness and endurance performance.

Beginning any exercise program can be an intimidating adventure when you are just starting out. Here are some things that are very important, and I feel that you definitely need to know them.

1. Are you medically cleared to exercise?

Safely perform your exercises, here’s how to do just that. It does you no good to start exercising with the best of intentions if you hurt yourself right away because you didn’t know the way you were performing the exercises was wrong. Not only are you less likely to keep exercising, but you may want to give up the idea entirely.

Rule of Thumb: You must learn the proper execution of the basic exercises in order to perform them safely and effectively.

2. It is hard to do something properly, if you’re not sure where to begin.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Make sure that step is the right one. It will save you much a great deal of time and frustration.

3. Why you are exercising? What’s your motivation?

If you don’t know why exercising, chances are are you won’t be focused on what you want to achieve. This is the by far the quickest road to failure.

Rule of Thumb: Know why you’re exercising. Write down specific goals that you would like to achieve, e.g. lose 10 pounds of fat in 8 weeks.

4. What you need to do to achieve your goals?

It is great to have goals. It is even better to know how to achieve them. Would you drive across the country without a map? Why would you embark upon something as important as your health and fitness without a plan as so many people do? Knowing this is extremely important, especially if you are older and have never really exercised before. Tell your doctor that you want to start an exercise program, ask if there is anything you need to know before you start.

Rule of Thumb: If you are a bit older, have never or rarely ever exercise, or have any pre-existing conditions or injuries that might affect you, consult your physician. When in doubt, get checked out.

Breaking through size barriers with endurance training


If you want to look better with your shirt off or perform better athletically, there are two things you should be striving for: improved recovery and better muscle performance. This is a no-brainer and a primary reason for the huge success of steroids over the decades (steroids improve both recovery and performance). I’ve yet to meet one individual who thought his recovery was too rapid or his muscle mass was too great. So what sets two weight-training individuals with sub-par genetics apart from each other in terms of progression? Answer: recovery.

But what is recovery really and how is it facilitated? There are many complex aspects of recovery, but one of the most important is nutrient transfer. We all know that weight training increases blood flow to the muscles being worked. But do we ever really think about what that means or how to maximize it to help us reach our goals? Probably not, but that’s what this article is for!

Alright, time for some very basic physiology. In regard to blood flow, the body has a network of extremely small blood vessels called capillaries. Their primary function deals with the exchange of oxygen, hormones, amino acids, glucose and lipids among other things. The exchange of certain nutrients at the capillary level is sometimes referred to as nutrient transfer. This blood flow through the capillaries remains relatively constant under resting conditions, but as soon as a muscle starts contracting, the blood flow is increased. It’s with these extremely small capillaries that the muscles are supplied with all the nutrients they need for recovery. Pretty simple, huh?

Your capillary-to-muscle-fiber ratio is expressed as the term capillary density. Obviously, the more capillaries you have within the muscular system, the better the nutrient transfer. Unfortunately, increased fiber area (hypertrophy) through heavy resistance training leads to a decrease in capillary density (1). This could be one of the reasons why weightlifters with a large amount of muscle mass take longer to recover than their less massive peers.

Based on the above information, it’s pretty clear increased blood flow within the muscle will increase nutrient transfer, thus aiding recovery. We also learned that heavy resistance training decreases capillary density by increasing the fiber area without a subsequent increase in capillaries. So, you’re probably wondering if there’s a way to increase capillary density? You bet there is. It’s called endurance training!

In volume three of The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine: Strength and Power in Sport, world-renowned physiology researcher P.A. Tesch makes the following statement: “Numerous studies have demonstrated that the capillary supply, either expressed as capillaries per fiber or as capillaries per mm(squared), increases in response to endurance training.” (2)

I know, I know, endurance training sounds about as pleasant to an avid iron-thrower as a 100-gram dose of soy protein. But it’s a well-known fact that endurance training increases capillary density. Don’t you worry though, ’cause this ain’t no wussified version of endurance training! This method will help you improve recovery, gain muscular endurance and increase hypertrophy. If that sounds good to you, read on.
The 100 Rep-a-Day Program

Since I’m a strength and conditioning coach, I’m constantly faced with dilemmas involving performance improvement. Since I own my training company, I can pretty much experiment with whatever I want, whenever I want. Therefore, I’ve tried many crazy schemes over the years in attempt to help solve some of the problems we all face as weight trainers. Some have worked, most have not. But I’m going to share with you one of my best discoveries so far: The 100 rep-a-day program.

Here’s how it works. First, decide which body part you feel is lagging the most (if you answer “all of them!” we have a problem). Hopefully, the incredible amount of information T-mag has provided over the years has given you a good jump on your physical goals and aspirations. Let’s say you pick calves and biceps. Yes, you can pick two muscle groups if they’re small. For instance, if you feel your calves and biceps are lacking, then you’re allowed to use the 100 rep-a-day program for both muscles simultaneously. If you choose a large muscle group like the chest or hamstrings, then use the program for those body parts independently. Here’s a list for the sake of clarity:

Small body parts (pick two if you want)

Biceps

Triceps

Calves

Forearms

Delts

Abdominals

Large body parts (pick one only)

Quadriceps

Hamstrings

Pectorals

Lats

Glutes/Lower Back

Now that you’ve chosen the muscle group(s) you want to improve, pick a single exercise for the targeted muscle group(s). Obviously, the list is endless but I’d strongly recommend an exercise that requires very little equipment, if possible. Here are a few exercises I like to use but feel free to use whatever you want:

Calves

Standing Calf Raises (1 or 2 legged)

Donkey Calf Raises

Quadriceps

Bodyweight Full Squats

Bodyweight Low Box Squats

Hamstrings

Standing Leg Curl (with ankle weight)

Lying Leg Curl (with ankle weight)

Low Back/Glutes

Reverse Hypers

Abdominals

Sit-ups (with feet hooked)

Leg Raises

Chest

Dumbbell Bench Press (flat or inclined)

Push-ups

Lats

Straight Arm Pulldowns

Pullovers

Biceps

Standing Dumbbell Curls (hammer grip or supinated)

Incline Dumbbell Curls (hammer grip or supinated)

Triceps

Pressdowns (cable or band)

Lying Dumbbell Extensions

Delts

Standing Dumbbell Side Raises

Bent Over Dumbbell Side Raises

Forearms

Plate Wrist Flexion*

Plate Wrist Extension**

*Place a small plate in your hand with your fingers on one side and thumb on the other. With the palm supinated (facing up), flex your wrist.

**Same as above except the palm is pronated (facing down) and the wrist extends back.
I don’t want you to worry about finding a certain percentage of your one rep max (1RM). If you do want to find it for the given exercise, I’d recommend 20% of that value, but I’m not requiring you to do so. As long as the load doesn’t induce excess fatigue and as long as you stop well short of failure on every set, you’ll benefit.

Now that we know the muscle groups and exercises, let’s get to the rest of the details. I want you to perform 100 reps each day for the chosen exercise(s). (This is in addition to your regular workout, but I’ll talk about that a little more later.) There are countless ways to do the 100 reps (I’ve tried them all), but I can honestly say there’s no dramatic difference between any of them as long as you avoid muscular failure. In other words, don’t do 100 reps continuously for one set each morning because the induced fatigue will halt your progress on your higher intensity weight-training workouts. Instead, avoid muscular failure like HIT trainees avoid German Volume Training! This is the most important point; you must never come close to muscular failure on any set.

Here are some rep breakdowns I found to be effective:
Method 1

Morning: 50 reps

Evening (about 12 hours later): 50 reps

Method 2

25 reps every fourth hour until you reach 100

Method 3

10 reps every hour until you reach 100

Let’s say you want to use the 100 rep-a-day program for your biceps and calves. You have a desk job and can only do exercises in the morning and at night so you pick the first method. The two exercises you chose are standing dumbbell hammer curls and standing calf raises. Like most trainees, you don’t want to take the time to find your 1RM so you grab some light dumbbells that you could curl 50 to 60 times before failure. You decide to just use your bodyweight for the calf raises off a step in your house. That plan looks good to me. Here’s the breakdown:

Morning

Exercise: Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls and Standing Two Leg Calf Raises

Sets: 1 set of each

Reps: 50 of each

Tempo: 2010 (two seconds up, no pause, one second down, no pause)

Evening (12 hours later)

Exercise: Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls and Standing Two Leg Calf Raises

Sets: 1 set of each

Reps: 50 of each

Tempo: 2010

Frequency: Every day that’s not part of your normal bicep/calf workout routine for eight weeks (or until necessary).

You should notice I prescribe a tempo that doesn’t emphasize the eccentric (negative) phase. Don’t discredit this very important point. I don’t want the negative phase of the movement emphasized in any way. If it is, you could easily overtrain the muscles and induce muscle soreness, something we want to avoid.

You should perform this routine on a daily basis without decreasing the bicep and calf work during the higher intensity weight-training program you’re already on. Perform the 100 reps on every day you don’t do your normal calf and bicep work. For instance, if you normally perform your biceps/calf work on Monday and Thursday, do this program on the other five days of the week. Remember, these are extra endurance workouts and should not take the place of the resistance training program you perform each week in the gym.
Key Points

• Never work to failure on any of the 100 rep exercises.

• If your performance is suffering on higher intensity days, reduce load of 100 rep scheme (in other words, use less weight).

• Try to break up the 100 reps as much as possible throughout the day.

• Use bodyweight exercises as much as possible and avoid machines.

Now, with all this talk of nutrient transfer and recovery, I must make a very important point. Without proper nutrition, nothing works extremely well. Simply put, you need a steady supply of nutrients for nutrient transfer to take place! Therefore, get well acquainted with T-mag’s articles on protein consumption and proper nutrition.
What You Should Expect

As with any program, individual results will vary, but you should expect improved recovery of your regular weight training workouts (due to increased capillary density and nutrient transfer), greater muscular endurance and increased muscle mass due to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (i.e. growth of the interstitial fluid area).

Mr. America (1966), Bob Gajda, used a similar method to put a full inch on his lagging calves in only eight weeks. Due to my extremely poor calf recovery rates, I started performing 100 standing calf raises each day. After a few weeks, my improved recovery rate allowed me to perform high-intensity calf work every third day instead of every fifth. You can’t beat that!

If, for whatever reason, the 100 rep-a-day plan doesn’t induce hypertrophy for you, the newfound recovery rates and muscular endurance will allow you to perform your high intensity sessions more frequently. Remember, more workouts mean more progress!

Don’t you just hate those stubborn body parts that never seem to grow? This “stubbornness” is usually caused by underlying issues, or more accurately, underlying muscles.

You may not have considered it, but you can improve a body part by training deep muscles that you really can’t see. And no, I’m not crazy! I call these the “pop ‘em out muscles” since they aid in “popping out” the muscles we bomb everyday in the gym and make them look larger and more developed.

I only wish it was as simple as watching Angelina Jolie run in the movie Tomb Raider (and by the way, this is one of the only benefits of cardio as far as I’m concerned), but unfortunately it’s not that easy! The pop ‘em out muscles that I’m referring to are the brachialis, pec minor and soleus, and if trained correctly, they’ll pop out your arms, your chest, and your calves.

Let’s begin!
Arms: Target the Brachialis!

The brachialis is a large muscle beneath the biceps brachii originating on the anterior shaft (lower half) of the humerus and inserting onto the coronoid process of the ulna. It functions to stabilize and reinforce the anterior surface of the elbow joint as well as flex the elbow joint (Hole & Koos, 1991).

According to Charles Poliquin in his book The Poliquin Principles, the brachialis is often a weak link in arm development. He states that many bodybuilders have found that adding specific brachialis exercises to their workouts can increase their arm size by as much as one inch in a month! So how do we target this bad boy? Read on!
Enter the Reverse Curl

During an arm curl, the biceps brachii and the brachialis share almost equal work in elbow flexion, yet as soon as you reverse the grip, the brachialis carries most of the load and is thus isolated (although the brachioradialis will get stressed as well.) However, pronation reduces biomechanical efficiency, thus only allowing you to reverse curl anywhere from 66 to 82% of a regular arm curl (Kostek & Knortz, 1980).

In other words, with your palms facing down, your strength drops by up to a third compared to your palms facing up. Obviously, you’ll have to use a lighter load (Siff & Verkhoshansky, 1999).

Speed also plays a role. One abstract revealed that velocity can influence elbow flexor recruitment (Kulig et al., 2001). The biceps brachii was found to be preferentially recruited during the fast protocol while the brachialis was found to be preferentially recruited during the slow protocol. Also, eccentric (negative) training influences the recruitment of fast twitch fibers — which have the greatest potential for hypertrophy (Antonio, 2000). This suggests that we should use a fairly slow tempo, particularly during the eccentric contraction.

Figure 1 — Change in signal intensity of biceps brachii and brachialis during fast and slow exercise protocols. (Kulig et al., 2000)

When performing the reverse curl, it’s important to grasp the weight tightly (use an EZ-Curl bar to reduce wrist strain) and keep the wrists straight and firm throughout. The added bonus to performing the reverse curl in this manner is that the wrists and fingers work isometrically to maintain a neutral wrist position and hold the weight, thus leading to strength development of all the wrist flexors (Kostek & Knortz, 1980).

Here, I.F.B.B. pro, Nelson Da Silva, demonstrates the seated EZ-Bar reverse curl on a preacher bench.

I recommend using the preacher bench to maintain strict form and reduce cheating. Position your elbows shoulder-width apart about midway down on the pad. It’s not necessary to jam your armpits against the preacher bench; this position promotes rounding and could cause you to strain your upper back. Make sure to sit as tall as possible with your chest held high and start with your arms fully extended.

Grab an EZ-curl bar, hands shoulder-width apart and pronated (palms down), and curl the weight upward. Stop shy of reaching vertical to keep constant tension on the muscle. As explained above, this is one exercise where you want to emphasize slow movement. Use a tempo of 5010* which reflects the eccentric-concentric ratio (5:1) used in the Kulig et al. study. This exercise should be performed every four to five days (Nosaka & Clarkson, 1996).

[*Please see our FAQ section if you're unfamiliar with tempo prescriptions.]
Hey, what about the brachioradialis and the biceps brachii?

Don’t think I forgot those bad boys. The mid-incline hammer curl is a great movement to stress the brachioradialis and the long head of the biceps. It will contribute quite nicely to adding some size to your arms.

To perform this exercise, simply lay back on an incline bench set at a 45-degree angle. Use a semi-supinated grip (i.e. a neutral grip where your palms are facing each other), curl the weight upward from a straight arm position (full extension) to as far as you can go (full flexion.) It’s crucial to keep the shoulders back and the elbows pointed down as long as possible (they’ll naturally rotate upward near the top of the movement). Another important point is to keep the head back and neck straight. Bending your head forward to check out your form in the mirror may compromise strength!

Elbow Flexor Prescription

Reverse EZ-Bar Preacher Curls

Sets: 5
Reps: 4-6
Tempo: 5010
Rest: 120 seconds

Mid-Incline Hammer Curls

Sets: 4
Reps: 6-8
Tempo: 4020
Rest: 90 seconds

Chest: Nail the Pec Minor!

The pectoralis minor is a thin, flat muscle lying beneath the larger pectoralis major. It extends laterally and upward, originating from the sternal ends of the upper ribs (3rd-5th) and inserting onto the coracoid process of the scapula. The pec minor pulls the scapula forward and downward and can raise the ribs, thus aiding in forceful inhalation.

The following tip is derived from former Ironman contributor and author of several strength books, Fred Koch. To increase chest size, you have to train both the pec major and minor. The minor tends to get overlooked since it’s not as glamorous as the major. Koch notes that the great upper-chest development of swimmers is due to the pec minor which is responsible for half of the freestyle stroke. So how do you train the pec minor without getting wet?
Perform limited-range dumbbell pullovers on a flat bench

According to Koch, the key to this exercise is to keep the elbows close to the head (within the lines of the shoulders) and to use a short range of motion (ROM). If you have a hard time getting into this position, consider Active Release Techniques (ART) for the following muscles: subscapularis, latismus dorsi, teres major, long head of the triceps brachii, and serratus anterior. Visit ActiveRelease.com to find a provider in your area.

Also, according to ART practitioner, Dr. Mark Lindsay, a sling pattern exists between the pectoralis minor and the short head of the biceps. In addition, Dr. Lindsay has noticed a tendency of the pec minor to adhere to the major. In order for the pec minor to function properly, you should free up any adhesions that may exist. If ART isn’t an option, you can always stretch your lats by simply hanging from a chin-up bar with one arm. (Scratching your armpit or eating a banana is optional.)

Keep in mind that in most shoulder exercises, the pec minor functions as a stabilizer for the scapula, and not as a prime mover. In the limited-range pullover, however, it acts as a prime mover. Traditionally, this exercise has been touted to improve winging scapulae, but in reality, it does the opposite. The lats are also involved in this movement, and they actually end up pulling your shoulder blades apart! (Poliquin, 1997)

Now, you often hear horror stories about the pullover exercise and, to a certain extent, they’re true. For instance, according to Durall et al: “…subacromial impingement can also be exacerbated by exercises that involve excessive flexion. The pullover exercise performed supine with free weights or on a machine forces the rotator cuff tendons and bursa against the undersurface of the acromion when the arms are hyperflexed. This exercise can be made safer by simply limiting flexion to the normal physiological limits or a comfortable ROM.”

What this simply means is that if you have any shoulder problems, you might want to avoid this exercise altogether. Yes, performing pullovers on a decline bench is a much safer option to reduce the amount of shoulder flexion, but unfortunately, the pec minor doesn’t get overloaded in this position. Okay, enough talk, let’s learn to do the darned exercise already!

Cup a dumbbell between both hands and lay back onto a flat bench. With your arms fully extended above your face, carefully lower the weight until your outstretched arms are in line with your body. Keep the small of your back pressed against the bench and brace the abdominals throughout to protect your lower back.

Make sure the elbows stay in (don’t let them flare out) or else the lats will kick in. Elbows should be directly beside your ears in the bottom position. Raise the dumbbell in an arcing motion only about six to eight inches, or 45 degrees from horizontal. Again, keep your arms straight throughout, and remember, this is a limited ROM exercise to emphasize the pec minor. You’ll actually feel the muscle contract under your chin!

I must reiterate: keep the abdominals tight! Don’t allow the back to arch excessively as this movement is notorious for abdominal herniations. The abs are recruited as heavy stabilizers in this movement—just another bonus!

The limited-range straight arm pullover — raise the dumbbell only about 6-8 inches or 45 degrees from horizontal.

If you’re still not convinced about the importance of training the pec minor, then listen up. According to Koch, there are feedback systems within the body to protect you from developing serious imbalances. Subsequently, the body may slow down or even halt the development of the pec major if the minor is underdeveloped. Bottom line: training the minor will make a major difference!
Other Chest Exercises

Try the steep incline, close-grip bench press! It’s just another triceps exercise, right? Well, yes and no. It’s yet another unique movement offered from the Westside camp and the top part of the range will definitely work the triceps. But just like any other variation of the bench press, the bottom part stresses the pecs.

With a close grip, arms out at approximately 45 degrees from the body, and a steep incline, the clavicular fibers (i.e. your upper chest) take a beating! Do one and a quarter reps. Since the pectorals contribute more at the bottom of the movement while the triceps contribute more at the top, it makes sense to train the lower ROM (range of motion) if you want to develop a massive chest. One and a quarter reps means that you’ll lower the weight to your chest, come up only a fourth of the way, lower back down, and then come all the way back up. That’s one rep.

Give it an honest shot and I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results. Combined with the pullover, you should experience some fantastic upper chest development.

(By the way, I’ve heard of using close-grip push-ups with the feet elevated to achieve the same goal. In this exercise, your thumbs and index fingers are touching, which forms a diamond shape between your hands. In my opinion, this places far too much stress on your wrists and detracts the emphasis from your chest. While this is controversial, I fully agree with Charles Poliquin that “close-grip” is a misnomer. With the steep incline, close-grip bench press, position your hands so that the index fingers are on the junction between the smooth part and the knurling of the bar about 16 inches away from each other.)
To round out the routine, perform low-incline, semi-supinated (palms facing each other) dumbbell presses. This should thoroughly exhaust the remaining fibers as well as call upon the sternal muscles for help. Try to use a low incline position set at an angle that you’re not accustomed to. That, coupled with the fact that this exercise is placed at the end of your chest routine instead of first, should provide a different set of stimuli for your body to adapt to. Make sure to get a good stretch in the bottom position.

Chest Prescription

Flat Limited-Range Straight-Arm Dumbbell Pullovers

Sets: 4
Reps: 10-12
Tempo: 3020
Rest: 60 seconds

Steep-Incline 1 1/4 Close-Grip Bench Presses

Sets: 4
Reps: 6-8
Tempo: moderate tempo (pause at bottom and 1/4 rep)
Rest: 90 seconds

Low-Incline Semi-Supinated Dumbbell Presses

Sets: 4
Reps: 8-10
Tempo: 4020
Rest: 75 seconds

Calves: Hit the soleus!

The soleus is a thick, flat muscle that lies underneath the gastrocnemius. It originates on the head and shaft of the fibula, as well as the posterior surface of the tibia, and inserts onto the posterior surface of the calcaneus (heel) via the Achilles tendon. The soleus functions to plantarflex the foot.

The soleus muscle is interesting in that it’s primarily composed of (85 +/- 3 %) Type I fibers (Trappe et al). To review, these fibers (also known as slow-twitch or slow oxidative) generally have a slow contraction velocity, low tension capacity, and high fatigue resistance, so it’s a good idea not to go really heavy when training them. But what you might not know is that the soleus comprises roughly 60% of your calf. That means most of your calf is made up of this muscle! Hmmm… I wonder if we should train it?

The ankle is a hinge joint that allows movement from a maximum of 20 degrees dorsiflexion to 50 degrees plantarflexion. However, unlike many other muscles, the calves keep working at full contraction — they don’t transfer the stress to the bones. Therefore, it’s vital to work the calves through a full range of motion from a full stretch to a full contraction (Stern, 1991). And, surprise, surprise, according to Trappe et al, calf muscle strength and size are positively correlated. So, you should aim to use more weight each and every session.
Sit and Grow: The Seated Calf Raise

The seated calf raise will emphasize the soleus (unlike standing calf raises, which tend to emphasize the gastrocnemius). This is a pretty basic exercise, but you still see guys doing it wrong in the gym, so let’s quickly review it. First off, set the pads comfortably over your lower quads (above the knee). If the pads are set too low, you risk them sliding off, and if they’re placed too high, the ROM and optimal line of pull will diminish, thus decreasing the effectiveness of the exercise.

Keep your upper body still; don’t swing or use your arms. Focus on lifting your heels as high as possible and getting a good stretch at the bottom. A good seated calf-raise machine will have a slanted platform, or even better, a rounded platform to accommodate a greater ROM. Many people are sloppy and lazy when they plantarflex, so keep the movement controlled and roll over your big toe to emphasize the often-neglected medial fibers. As opposed to the standing calf raise, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) indicates that foot position doesn’t change muscle action in the seated calf raise (Tesch, 1999).

Aim for full ROM on the seated calf raise — lift your heels as high as possible and get a good stretch at the bottom.

The general recommendation for the seated calf raise is to perform three sets of 15 to 20 reps (Stern, 1991) and that works fine for awhile, but in this routine I want you to try something different. Since type-I fibers can experience some hypertrophy similar to type-II fibers with a low-rep, high-load protocol (Antonio, 2000), drop sets may be a useful technique to elicit growth. In a way, you get the best of both worlds!

Here’s how it works. Set the machine with a weight that allows 10 reps max and go for it. As soon as you finish, drop the weight and do another 10. If you think it’s bad here, it gets worse! Once more, strip some weight off and finish off with 10 more grueling repetitions. Do this all with no rest in between. When you regain your senses, repeat this process two more times for a total of three sets and 90 repetitions. That’s plenty of volume with decent intensity, enough to induce some serious hypertrophy.

By the way, here’s yet another area where ART may help. A few years ago I sent an amateur bodybuilder to fellow T-mag contributor, Dr. Ken Kinakin, for some ART on his lagging calves. After only a couple of sessions, they exploded with growth! I consulted with Dr. Kinakin for an explanation. He offered the following:

“I remember that I separated the heads of the gastrocs as well as the peroneals from the soleus (on the lateral side of the calf) to achieve a layering effect when you flex the calf especially during a side pose. I also worked on the distal end of the gastroc to get that teardrop look.”

An associate of mine, Dr. Bill Wells, further revealed that not only is there a sheath between the two gastroc heads (medial and lateral), but also beneath the soleus and the three deep plantarflexors (tibialis posterior, flexor digitorum longus, and flexor hallucis longus.) If they’re bound, they can’t contract efficiently and will be weak. Moreover, by separating the superficial from the deep compartments, you’ll aid hypertrophy.

I believe this coincides with the theory of fascial stretching that John Parillo has proposed for added mass. In other words, stretch out the fascia (i.e. the balloon encasing your muscle fibers) and you have more room for growth. I’ve gotta tell you, I was quite impressed with the results.
Don’t train bi’s and calves on the same day!

Whatever you do, don’t pair the seated calf raise with the reverse curl mentioned above. Research indicates that high-intensity elbow flexion decreases blood flow to the calves and may hamper performance (Kagaya et al., 1996). And while we’re on the subject, check out this theory espoused by Gene Mozee many moons ago:

“According to Gray’s Anatomy, the intramuscular temperature of the calves is about four degrees lower than that of muscles elsewhere in the body. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature below the knee is 94 to 95 degrees, while that of the thigh is 97 to 98 degrees. This lower temperature in the calf muscle is, in part, the result of less blood circulation in that area — the pull of gravity makes it more difficult for blood to return to the heart as it travels uphill. Generally, the less blood circulation, the slower the muscle growth. The fact that professional dancers and athletes who train daily are constantly stimulating their blood circulation may be one reason why they develop such outstanding calves without using a great deal of resistance.” (Mozee, 1991)

Now, I’m not completely sure about the above theory and I’m not suggesting that you take up ballet, but we do know that the soleus can tolerate frequent bouts of training. This is in accordance with the “variable recovery system.” So, train it hard and train it often and watch those calves expand!
Don’t forget the other calf muscles!

MRI studies show that the standing one-leg calf raise hits just about every muscle below the knee. This exercise is usually performed with a straight leg. While in theory 180 degrees may be the optimal angle for maximal recruitment of the gastrocnemius, it’s been found that a straight leg generates less torque than when the knee is slightly bent (160 degrees.) (Trappe et al., 2000) To take advantage of this information, I want you to unlock your knee and keep it slightly bent throughout the exercise.

Note: The emphasis is on slightly — you only want to flex the knee about 20 degrees and then keep it fixed at that angle. To load, hold a dumbbell on the same side as the working leg; the other hand can be used for support. Watch your posture!

Calf Prescription

Seated Calf Raise

Sets: 3
Reps: 10/10/10 reps (2 drop sets of 10 reps each with no rest in between)
Tempo: 2121
Rest: 120 seconds

Standing 1-Leg Calf Raise (knee unlocked)

Sets: 3
Reps: 12-15
Tempo: 2020
Rest: 60 seconds

Conclusion

Hopefully you now see that training the “pop ‘em out” muscles — the brachialis, pec minor and soleus — can whip those stubborn body parts into shape and bring your physique up to a whole new level! Give these exercises a shot!