By
Dr. Ben Lerner
When helping to prepare Olympic athletes for battle, we have very
few weeks and very little time each day. Time always seems to be
against us. However, working with Olympians became great training
for working with non-Olympians. Why? Most everyone feels they have
little time for fitness in today's fast-paced world.
In preparation for life or the Olympics, you need a program you
can quickly put into any schedule, yet is super-duper effective
and totally safe. Injury is not an option for potential medalists
or busy people.
This week's column illustrates how to get the greatest bang
for your buck, meaning how to get more from your workouts while
spending less time and optimizing injury prevention.
How to Stand: Perfect Posture = Perfect
Technique
All exercise and stretching, as well as all movement in life, needs
to be performed as close to Perfect Posture as possible. God designed
the body using all of the vast, highly technical laws of science,
mathematics and physics in order for your "Body By God"
to best deal with gravity. When maintaining your posture, the muscles,
joints and bones are at their strongest and most stable.
This will allow them to be able to withstand large or repetitive
forces without suffering injury.
Perfect Posture
- The head is up and back so the ears line up over the shoulders,
and the arc (lordosis or reversed "C" curve) in the
neck is maintained
- Shoulders are rolled back in the joints
- Upper back flat and not arched or humped
- Belly button is out and hips back so you have an arc (lordosis/reversed
"C" curve like the neck) in your lower back called the
"weight lifter's arch"
- Knees are slightly bent to provide shock absorption
Remember to maintain this posture during all stretches and
exercises. Any exercise or stretch that calls for a disruption of
posture means it is unhealthy, or you are doing it wrong.
How to Stretch
Due to sitting, driving, working on the computer, getting out of
shape and the effects of gravity, certain muscles get too short
or too tight. This can create an injury during lifting or cause
you to develop joint pain and degeneration over time.
To compensate for the natural muscle shortening that occurs due
to our modern, unnatural lifestyles, stretching is critical to perform
before, during and after every workout.
Short Muscles and Their Stretches
Hamstrings: While standing, put your foot up on a chair
or bench. Keeping perfect posture (head up/shoulders back/weight
lifter's arc in your back), bend down slightly toward your
foot, making sure to keep your head and shoulders up. You should
feel a stretch in the back of your leg and calf.
Calves: Stand 2-3 feet away from a wall and lean against
it while keeping your back and legs straight so you are bending
forward at the ankle only. You should feel a stretch at the Achilles
tendon and calf muscles.
Chest Muscles/Front Shoulders: Stand by a wall or in a doorway
and put your hand against it at eye level. Move or lean forward,
away from your hand, until your arm is straight and being pulled
back enough to cause a stretch in the chest and shoulder muscles.
Change the level of your hand to below the waist and above your
head in order to perform this stretch at three different angles.
Front of Neck: Roll your shoulders back, pull your chin
in and then roll your head back so you are looking up at the ceiling
behind you. This is done to stretch the front of the neck. The muscles
and ligaments in the front of the neck get tight due to the forward
head posture created by driving, watching TV or sitting at a desk
or computer.
Hold all stretches for 10-15 seconds, back off slightly, take a
deep breath in, and then let it out while you repeat the stretch
for another 10-15 seconds. Each time you go back down while breathing
out, you should be able to stretch farther. Do each stretch at least
three separate times to achieve the maximum benefit.
How to Breathe and Count While Lifting
Breathing: Breathe in on the eccentric contraction (while
you are lowering or releasing the weight) and breathe out on the
concentric contraction (while you are lifting the weight).
Counting: Count "1, 2 ... " on the concentric
contraction (when lifting). Count "1, 2, 3, 4 ... " on
the eccentric contraction (when releasing or lowering the weight).
Resistance Training
Muscles placed under "resistance" become stronger, leaner,
and better developed. Muscles adapt to whatever force you apply
to them. Or don't. If you consistently put a strain on a certain
muscle group, it will adapt by getting more physically powerful,
have more tone and it will change its shape. If you consistently
do not put strain on your muscles, they become weaker, flabbier
and shapeless.
To be healthy, lean muscle mass must increase and fat must decrease.
While aerobic exercise will cause some resistance to the set of
muscles being used, it is not enough. Resistance needs to be applied
throughout the entire body so you remove fat and increase leanness
in all or most of the muscles.
Resistance exercise occurs when you apply sustained or repetitive
strain (resistance) to muscle. The most effective way to create
resistance against the muscles and thus produce predictable results
is a properly applied weight-lifting program.
The Language of Resistance Movement Through
Weight Training
The world of resistance weight training brings with it its own
unique and special vocabulary. Such terms need to be defined before
a proper understanding of the weight resistance program can occur.
They include the following:
-
Repetitions (or Reps): In the vernacular of weight
training, a repetition is defined as how many times you do the
specified exercise. If you lift a weight 12 times, that is 12
repetitions, or "reps."
-
Set: A set is how many separate times you perform the
repetitions of the exercise. For instance, three "sets"
of 12 repetitions is performing 12 repetitions, three separate
times.
-
Failure: Doing an exercise until "failure"
means performing a "set" until you literally cannot
perform even one more "rep."
-
Quick Set Programs: These allow you to get a workout
in for an individual body part in as little as three minutes.
This is the ultimate way to perform resistance training. These
routines can be as simple and as short as you need them to be
in order to fit them into your schedule or level of motivation
on any given day or week. This program can also be performed
more or fewer times per week, dependent on how quickly you desire
to make changes to the muscles of your Body By God. This actually
creates the possibility of knowing you will not only exercise
consistently this week, or for the next 90 days, but forever.
Due to the type of adaptation the body must make while performing
Quick Sets, you are able to create significant changes in the composition
(body fat percentage and muscle tone) of a body part within three
minutes.
Busy moms, overworked businessmen and businesswomen, or students
on a tight time schedule can still be extremely effective in their
lives and get in shape all at the same time. Using the Quick Set
Programs for three-minute body parts, many patients, clients and
friends -- including me -- have been able to maintain busy schedules,
a high quality family life and find plenty of leisure time while
still being in the best shape of our lives.
These routines can be used to increase the intensity of your workouts,
shorten your workout times, and very safely speed up your results.
They are designed so anyone can perform them and make great changes
to their Body By God on any level. Whether you are a retired grandma
or an aspiring Olympian, there is a plan for you.
Types of Quick Sets
Decline Set
- Pick one exercise and do it for 8 -- 12 repetitions until
failure
- Rest 5-6 seconds
- Lower the weight by 5 -- 20 pounds and do the exercise again
for 6 -- 8 repetitions until failure.
- Rest 5 -- 6 seconds
- Lower the weight by 5 -- 20 pounds again and do another 6 -- 8
repetitions until failure
Pause Set
- Pick one exercise and do it for 8-12 repetitions until failure
- Rest 5-6 seconds
- Using the same weight, do the exercise again until failure
- Rest 5-6 seconds
- Repeat this process until you cannot do the exercise for more
than 1-2 repetitions
Even with exercising each body part 1-2 times a week, your total
time investment can be as little as 4-8 hours of resistance exercise
for an entire month. Not much to ask to keep the only body you will
ever have well.
Dr.
Ben Lerner, Dr. Greg Loman and Dr. Rob Schiffman have three
of the largest chiropractic centers in the history of the chiropractic
profession. Their organization, Teach The World About Chiropractic,
teaches a high-tech, vitalistic chiropractic approach to wellness
care. They also teach a God-centered lifestyle through Dr. Lerner's
New York Times best selling book, Body
by God: The Owner's Manual For Maximized Living.