By Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri, CSCS,
HFS
Author
of Double Edged Fat Loss 2.0
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Your body is
programmed to hold onto fat.
You've designed
it that way... I did the same thing, once.
Now, it's time
to break the cycle. Your body needs to understand that it's
time to shape itself, shed fat, and build muscle. Your body
needs to increase its own signal and communication before
allowing you to progress in strength and dominate your fat.
Your body
holds onto fat because it feels you are endangering it.
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Plain and simple. You
hold onto fat because your body is worried about you. ...and with
good reason, and all due respect. With that said, it's not your
fault. If you fully understood the language of your body, you'd
let it know that everything's ok and you're just making choices
that make you happy.
...or do they?
I'd like to teach you
the best communication strategy to your body so that you can begin
restoring it and signaling to your central nervous system that
it's time to enhance function and progress self. It all starts
with alignment...
Body Alignment:
Body alignment ultimately
dictates whether or not pain receptor response is being signaled
from your joints to your brain, asking muscles to turn off. When
joints are out of position, it's like putting two pointy objects
against each other at a diagonal. The chances are, one of them
can break very quickly with just a bit of pressure. As a result,
your brain tells your muscles to turn off and back down.
No wonder it's taking
you more to build your metabolism... muscle = metabolism, and
your muscles might not even be turning on... or they might be
30% efficient.
This is the most under-diagnosed
situation I see in people who are trying to get fit. Less muscle
fires during exercises than their counterparts who shed fat in
weeks instead of months. With this in mind, don't you think we
should learn how to activate muscle a bit more easily?
Build joint alignment
for increased muscle signaling. Then, work muscles at different
speeds and angles. Lastly, think about what you're doing. Let's
talk about each one:
Working Muscles At Different Speeds:
Your muscles are composed
of Type I, Type IIa, and Type IIb fibers. This refers to the amount
of oxygen (left) to glucose (right) the muscle fiber relies on
for energy. In a type IIb fiber, it's purely glycolytic, or sugar-consuming.
These are the fast-twitch muscles and they don't last long.
Summary point: Sprint
fibers don't last long... duh! (but they eat sugar - that's cool)
After your Type IIb
muscle fibers tire out, your Type IIa fibers kick in, burning
up your excess sugar-based energy and beginning to consume surrounding
oxygen molecules bound to hemoglobin in the area. This lasts for
about 60-120 seconds.
Summary point: 'Average'
fibers last for 1-2 minutes (but they help us keep going and also
eat sugar - pretty cool.)
Following Type IIa
fatigue, your Type I muscle fibers rely solely on oxygen and help
you finish your set. Now, you're working in the presence of oxygen,
building endurance, and healing joints... which, as you might
imagine, is an important signal to your brain to turn muscle back
on.
Summary point: Slow
fibers eat oxygen, which is needed for adequate circulation and
healing of joints. If joints feel they are endangered, your brain
turns off surrounding muscles and pads the joint with fat. (we
need these guys!)
Working Muscles At Different Angles:
Depending on the muscle,
muscle fibers may run in as many as 3-5 different directions.
This means that angular variety to exercise is very important
to stimulate full muscle contractions. This is the reason that
people do incline bench press as well as bench, but is this really
it? Have we reached all of the fibers?
Just by doing bench
press, incline bench press, butterfly, and decline bench press
we haven't hit all of the fibers.
I humbly discovered
something when I first mastered anatomy. Having spent hundreds
if not a thousand hours in the anatomy lab, I now have X-Ray vision
with exercise. I can tell when a muscle is being stressed properly,
or when malalignment is taking place ever so slightly. This is
what I do.
Well, as it turns out,
muscle actions dictate whether or not a muscle fiber is being
recruited. For example, the pecs have 3 actions: Adduction (moving
arm towards your other arm), Flexion (raise arm up), Internal
Rotation of the humerus (turn thumb down)
So, in order to hit
all fibers of the pecs, you'd need to add all three movements
at different angles.
Think About What You're Doing:
Your muscles contract
because of 2 areas in your brain. First is your Pre-Motor Area;
second is your Motor Area, or movement execution center. You'll
want to use both centers if you want to maximize signal to your
muscle.
Your pre-motor area
is where you plan movement. Movement planning efficiency can actually
yield up to 30% greater contractile strength. So, in short, if
you can think about and properly visualize a movement before executing
it, you can lift 30% more weight, and get results 30% faster.
Your motor area is
where you send the command to move. So long as your joints are
properly aligned and there's no acute danger or injury, your body
is primed to activate as much muscle as possible.
Sweet deal, huh?
I really hope that
you'll consider these points when exercising. I'd like to tell
you that this alone will allow you to reach your ideal body goal,
but that's probably not true. For this reason, as well as in excitement
for the release of DEFL 2.0, I've decided to put together an 8
part series of Fat Loss Gifts for you. You can start downloading
the first part: the Dr. K Proven Fat Loss Formula (by
clicking right here)
CLICK HERE to sign up for your FREE 8-part
video series and free fat-loss report!
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