Controlling Your Weight

THE TRAINING ROOM

Controlling Your Weight

Details: Published on Sunday, 15 May 2011 22:03; Written by Rossano Rea CPT

When we think of the words "controlling your weight" we automatically think of food and exercise. In the fitness business, "controlling one's weight" also refers to the positive (concentric) and negative (eccentric) movements performed during the exercise. So many times, I see people in the gym who could potentially reap so much more out of their exercises if they would simply learn to control their poundage that they are lifting, rather than letting it control them. In order to get maximal results from a movement, it is essential to learn to master the art of breath control and focus on the muscle being worked. I use the bench press as an example. How we "control our weight" will impact how the muscle is worked with respect to the pectoral muscles, anterior deltoids, triceps, and even the lats.

When performing a bench press movement, or any movement for that matter, always remember to resist the weight on the way down, or on the negative. Whether one decides to resist it for 2, 3, 4 seconds, etc, is entirely up to that person and their trainer. Bear in mind that a slow negative followed by an explosive upward movement, is great for developing explosive power and dense muscle tissue. Contrarily, when a movement is performed slowly on both the eccentric and concentric contractions, the muscle fibers elongate and shorten evenly and good size, strength, and definition will result.

Regardless of your ratio, just remember to resist the weight on its way down as opposed to just dropping it. This can result injury to the joints as well as muscular strain. In addition, by simply haphazardly lowering the weight without resisting, you lose an entire movement which is almost, if not just as important, as the main effort (positive contraction).

Some other examples of exercises are squats, biceps curls, shoulder presses, and all other respective movements. Remember, as the weight is lowered, be sure to slow the movement down and feel that burn.

Another form of "controlling weight" is performing isolated, partial movements. These partial rep movements are excellent for destroying those muscle fibers and working them from all angles. An example of this would be performing the traditional 21's doing biceps curls. In addition, working the muscle at partial rep range will strengthen tendons and ligaments, which don't get as adequate of blood supply as muscles do. Also, remember to breath while performing these exercise, especially on a slowed down contraction. When we hold our breath (valsalva), adequate bloodflow does not reach the muscle tissue and will result in a lack of a "pumped" feeling. So, small, short breathes are what is required to deliver that oxygen-rich blood to the tissue.

All in all, next time you are in the gym, make sure to focus on "controlling your weight" and see how your body improves.

Rossano Rea,CPT
310-595-4574
[email protected]