Tag: getfit

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Top 100 Fitness Blogs and Websites on the planet

Top 100 fitness blogs on the planet

TOP 100 FITNESS BLOGS ON THE PLANET

I am so excited by this news that my hands tremble!!! Where do I begin? At the beginning, you are right.

As you know, the fitness industry is hard and publicizing an internet business is possibly even harder. For these reasons, I am always looking for ways to promote my business. Last weekend, I found the list of the best 100 blogs and websites to follow, provided by Feedspot.

What´s Feedspot? It´s a RSS Reader. If you’re trying to keep up with news and content on multiple webs, Feedspot allows you to put all of your reading in one place.

There is an impressive amount of fitness blogs out there and this list includes the best on the planet like Men´s Fitness, Reebok Fitness Blog, MyFitnessPal Blog, ACE (American Council on Exercise), or Anytime Fitness Blog, just to name a few blogs among the top 10.

Call me foolish, but I decided to submit my blog, with little or no hope of accessing the list. I would be happy to enter the Feedspot fitness blog directory and get some more readers. That´s what I expected. What I got, so you can guess by the title of this post, was to enter the list. I am not in the position #100, or #99, not even #90 or #80. Dear friends, my blog is on the list at number 73, which is not bad if you realize that I do not have a team working on this blog. Just me!

Chape Fitness best fitness blog on the planet

I am so happy and proud right now… that I´m going  to take  the rest of the day off!! I think you will agree with me… From time to time a break is necessary to savor the achievements and victories. This news is both an achievement and a sweet victory after a long time blogging. 

Don´t worry, I will return with new content and much more energy before you realize that I have taken a day off, I promise.

I’m looking forward to climbing some positions. I know I will never make #1 but, top 50? I´m going to try it.

From a small Spanish coastal town to the top 100 fitness blogs on the planet, today is a day to remember and celebrate!

Thank you all, lot of love and, as always, big hugs!!

David.

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Weider´s training principles: The isolation principle

Several muscles can be trained as a unit or isolated and trained individually. All muscles are involved more or less in every movement – either as stabilizers, agonist, antagonists or synergistic. If a particular muscle is to be built up, it needs to be exercised as separately as possible from the other muscles.

The isolation principle

The main focus for isolation work is to concentrate fully on using the main muscle to move the weight.
Main Muscles Worked: The muscles that are used the most during the exercise.
Secondary Muscles Worked: Muscles that assist the main muscles in the exercise.
Stabilizers: Muscles that are not worked by movement, but rather assist in stabilizing the body in addition to the weight of the exercise.
Let´s analyze the Barbell Curls, for example:
Main Muscles Worked:
  1. Biceps Brachii
Secondary Muscles Worked:
  1. Brachialis
  2. Brachioradialis
Stabilizers:
  1. Deltoid, Anterior
  2. Trapezius, Upper
  3. Trapezius, Middle
  4. Levator Scapulae
  5. Wrist Flexors
Some people often make the mistake that isolation work is useless and a full compound routine is all one needs to build muscle. While compounds are the quickest way to work your body, they fail to fully exhaust the muscles. This is where isolation work is needed.
While a compound workout is faster, isolations will better target each individual muscle, resulting in a complete workout. This puts more stress on the muscles, and thus makes them grow better than a full compound workout.

What Are Some Of The Benefits Of An All Isolation Workout?

Results: Put in simpler terms, it will give you maximum muscle growth. When body parts are neglected they won’t be able to grow. Isolation movements give you the ultimate edge. You get to hit the muscle group that couldn’t be hit with compound movements, or it wasn’t hit as good and that’s why it’s lacking.

Completely exhausting a muscle. Compounds work multiple muscles at once, yet it is impossible to work each of those muscles to its max with a single compound exercise. One muscle will tire out before the other. Thus the only way to get a complete workout with compounds would be to do a compound exercise for every muscle in your body. And that is not feasible due to energy and time. This is where isolation work shines, each muscle can be worked to its maximum potential that does not take an extreme amount of time or more energy than one has.

Fewer opportunities for injuries: Injuries can arise in all types of workouts, but they are much less common in isolation exercises. This being because compounds are more intense than isolations. They use several muscles at once, which greatly opens the door for one muscle overpowering another, thus resulting in a pulled muscle. Examples are the “Big 3”: squats, deadlifts, and bench press. Squats and deadlifts put a great deal of pressure on your spinal column while bench press puts pressure on your chest and shoulders at once, often contributing to a pulled muscle if the barbell slips.
Fitness woman doing exercises on white background

Who Would Benefit From Using An All Isolation Workout?

The people who gain the most benefit from an all isolation workout would definitely be people looking for a symmetrical body.
Others who would benefit from an all isolation workout would be older people who may not have the strength or bone support to do squats, deadlifts, bench presses or pull-ups.
Also for beginners, who may not know correct form for the big compound exercises or have enough strength to perform them, would benefit from an all isolation routine.
There are not many people that can do pull-ups on their first day in the gym or can do a set of squats in proper form. An isolation workout would give these people an introduction to weightlifting before they start doing the more advanced exercises. Whatever the reason, an all isolation routine has its place.
Do you need help to achieve your fitness goals? I still have some available spots.
Do you think any of your friends should read this? Please, share on your favorite social network.
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Weider´s training principles: The progressive overload principle

Training Plan
Joe Weider (November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben. He was also the creator of the Mr. Olympia, the Ms. Olympia and the Masters Olympia bodybuilding contests.
Joe Weider
Joe’s most indelible addition to the science and sport of bodybuilding is the Weider Principles: over 30 theories and techniques that forever changed the means by which someone could build a strong, muscular body.

The progressive overload principle

To increase any aspect of physical fitness (muscle mass, strength, stamina, etc.), your muscles need to be continually put under increased stress.
Today, I want to focus on muscle mass, to keep it simple for beginners. To achieve more muscle mass, the number of sets is key.
In the early years of bodybuilding, most experts believed that to increase muscle mass, we should only complete one set of each exercise per workout. If the whole body is to complete twelve exercises, this would mean twelve sets per workout.
Weider saw it differently. He was the first to recommend working out using several sets of one exercise (3-5 sets per exercise) to exhaust each muscle group and to stimulate maximum muscle growth.
Start with three sets of each exercise and continue increasing the number of sets until you make five. This strategy will also help you increase your muscle strength gradually without obsessing with the weight you lift. It´s no magic, it´s the progressive overload principle: once your muscles are used to perform three sets, you have to push them to do four sets and then five.
When you are able to do five series with the same weight with which it was hard to do three series the first week, it is time to add more weight.
I know that most bodybuilders speak wonders and encourage you to lift heavy, and so do I, but in due time. The word “heavy” means “difficult to lift or move” and this is a different weight to each person. Whatever is difficult to lift today for you, it will be easier to lift next month.
First, progress from 3 to 5 sets. Then progress to heavier weights.
The progressive overload principle is the core of all physical training and forms a solid basis for successful training.
Do you need help to achieve your fitness goals? I still have some available spots.
Do you think any of your friends should read this? Please, share on your favorite social network
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Fitness Advice #1 Start Now

As a personal trainer, the first and best fitness advice I can give you is this: Start today!
You feel motivated right now and you think this motivation will keep growing and growing, leading you to start exercising soon. I´m sure you´ve heard that motivation is what gets you started. Probably, you feel motivated after a long day sitting on your couch and you tell yourself tomorrow morning will be different: you will go for a run, hit the gym or start doing yoga. Then, next morning, nothing happens. Where´s your motivation? Nobody knows. That´s why motivation sucks. Because it´s never there when you need it.
The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal, apply the 5-seconds rule. In this video, Mel Robbins explains how we all sabotage ourselves, and how we can stop doing it.
Do not wait until next week, do not wait until tomorrow. Whether it is winning a race, losing weight, gaining flexibility, looking good in a bathing suit, or living a long life, start small and work your way up to a better and better you. Please, don´t fool yourself waiting for the perfect moment to start chasing your dreams. There is no perfect moment to start anything other than right now! After a long day sitting on the couch, there is nothing better than a few exercises to relieve and stretch your muscles. And that it´s much better than waiting until the next day. Now is always better than later.
Do not wait one more second: go to the gym and get that membership, or buy that pair of dumbbells you need to train at home or the pair of running shoes you need… Today is the right moment for you to start. No excuses, no overthinking… Just do it.
The toughest part is yet to be: keep going. Rome wasn´t built in a day. A warm day does not make summer. And let me tell you that after your first day working out, you´ll feel proud. But also soreness, tired, and many days from this first day you won´t feel like training. Those who workout on a regular basis know I´m telling the truth. We all feel like that one day (or week) or another! Remember the 5 seconds rule, kick your excuses out of your head and do what you have to do, keep going. A regular (serious) training plan is usually set for 6-8 weeks. On this journey you´ll have good and bad days, great and terrible days, they´re all part of the process.
I would love to help you achieve your fitness goals, whatever they are: lose weight, gain muscle, overcome a plateau, running a 5k or a marathon… You name it, I´m an old dog with years of experience and tons of tricks in my sleeve to get you where you want to be. If you need a custom training and meal plan, and I could help you, sign up. We´ll work together using Evernote, the best app in the market to set goals, track progress, and get things done. That´s what fitness is about, right? Set goals, get things done, and progress towards your dreamed body.
   

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