Maximizing Your Workout

Are you trying to lose weight or gain muscle? Are you striving to improve sports performance or free yourself of low back pain? Everyone has a different goal when it comes to exercise. Consequently fitness enthusiasts are always looking for new innovative exercises to improve their routines. But did you know that you can kick start your training program simply by teaching your muscles how to decelerate?

Muscles produce a variety of actions to effectively manipulate gravity, ground reaction forces, momentum and external resistance. There are three different contractions that muscles produce:
Eccentric (acceleration)
Isometric (stabilization)
Concentric (deceleration)

Let’s use the example of a bicep curl exercise to illustrate muscle contractions. If an individual is performing a bicep curl, the initial movement requires the bicep to shorten to generate force to overcome the weight of the dumbbell in the individual’s hand, allowing the dumbbell to move up toward the front of the shoulder. This is the concentric portion of the exercise. Once the dumbbell is raised to the front of the shoulder, the individual holds this position. Because the length of the muscle does not change while holding this position, this is considered the isometric portion of the exercise. As one lowers the dumbbell down back to the starting position, the muscle must now lengthen to decelerate the force of the dumbbell. This is the eccentric portion of the exercise.

Let’s use another common exercise, the squat, to illustrate muscle contractions. As one descends into the squat position, the gluteals lengthen and the individual must decelerate forces applied by one’s own body weight and gravity. This is the eccentric phase of the exercise. As one pauses at the bottom, there is no visible lengthening or shortening (acceleration/deceleration) of the gluteals. This is the isometric portion of the exercise. As the individual stands back up, the gluteals shorten and the body is accelerated upward overcoming forces of applied by gravity. This is the concentric phase of the exercise.

In traditional exercise, concentric force production is often emphasized in many routines. Individuals are so focused on lifting the weight, they often allow the weight fall back to the starting position ignoring isometric and eccentric motions. Ironically, the maximum amount of force that can be produced by a muscle occurs during eccentric motions (1). In all activities, muscles work as much eccentrically and isometrically as they do concentrically. Thus, it is important to train muscles to be strong not only concentrically, but eccentrically and isometrically as well to maximize strength potential, maintain proper joint range of motion (flexibility) and prevent injury(1). Additionally, most injuries occur during eccentric deceleration (such as landing from a jump, or slowing down to change direction). In fact, research has shown approximately 70% of all ACL (knee ligament) injuries are non-contact in nature resulting from the inability to properly decelerate (2).

Now that we understand the importance of training all muscle contractions (eccentric, isometric, concentric), how does one take this information and apply it to their workout routine?

Perform all exercises through a full range of motion to effectively train all muscle contractions.
When initiating an exercise routine, start with a slow tempo, especially during the eccentric phase. This will help improve muscular endurance, posture and eccentric strength (ability to decelerate).
For example, when performing a resistance exercise, take one second to lift the weight, hold the end-range for two seconds, and slowly lower the weight back to the starting point for four seconds (3).
Once fitness levels and eccentric strength improves; progress to faster tempo exercises to improve force production capabilities. Remember, it does little good for an individual to practice explosive exercises if they lack the ability to decelerate. That is why slower tempos are important when initiating an exercise routine.

By emphasizing all muscle contractions during an exercise program fitness enthusiasts and athletes will gain strength, muscular endurance, improve posture and prevent injury. Improvements in all of these areas will allow for higher intensity programs, leading to greater fat loss, increased muscle mass and improved athletic performance.

References
1. Lastayo, P. et al. Eccentric Muscle Contractions: Their Contributions to Injury, Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Sport. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2003;33:557-571.
2. Griffin LY, Agel J, Albohm MJ, et al. Noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries; risk factors and prevention strategies. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2000;8(3):141-150.
3. Clark, M. Russell, A. NASM Essentials of Performance Enhancement. National Academy of Sports Medicine. 2004.

Brian Sutton MA, PES, CES, CSCS, NASM-CPT is an educator and author for the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

2 Ab Exercises You Haven't Tried

Sick of those same old crunches? Looking to strengthen your core and add a little flavor to your workout? Check out these 2 exercises that will have your abs burning and add diversity to your regime!

Bench Sit Up:

What is it: A variation on one of our staples of ab exercises.

Why it works: Working against gravity makes the move that much more difficult.

Lie flat on a weight training bench in the traditional situp position (knees bent, feet pulled back towards the glutes). Now scoot up on the bench to where your shoulder blades are just off the top of the bench. Before you begin the actual "sitting up phase" you want to make sure your back is flat against the bench. Now slowly begin to crunch up, hold the contraction as you come down, resisting your back wanting to arch. Lower yourself to the point where the arch starts to creep into your lower back and then come back up. Repeat for 10-15 repitions.

To make the move harder, try holding your hands straight out behind your head throughout the duration of the movement. To further challenge your head do the movement holding a physio ball, or even a medicine ball, again taking caution to keep the ball straight behind the head.

Windmills:

What is it: An exercise that can be performed lying, or hanging, utilized to target the obliques.

Why it works: Our legs act as resistance to the oblique muscles so every time your legs drop to one side you must use your oblique muscles to pull the legs back to center.

Lie flat on your back with your hands at your side. Grasp a physio ball between your feet and bring your legs up in the air so they are dead center over the hips. Slowly let your legs drop to one side of you body, only going so far as to where your shoulders start to leave the mat ( this is your range of motion - ROM ). Pull back to center and repeat to the other side. Do 10-15 reps per side.

To make it more challenging do the move from a hanging position by holding onto a bar pulling your body up and then rotating your hips side to side. Warning... this is a very advanced move and should not be tried by anyone is not sufficiently conditioned.