When to Change your Workout Program

Before starting any muscle-building program, your first step should be to understand how your body goes about building muscle. No, you don't need to be biophysicist - but a basic understanding of how your own body works is critical if you want to achieve maximum gains from your program.

Muscle Growth 101
Simply stated, muscle growth occurs as a result of the repairs that are made to muscle tissue that's been broken down by exercise. It's known as hypertrophy, which is the increase in size of the tissue by increasing the size of the cells in the muscle.

Part of the process of selecting the right exercises is to identify your goal. Are you after greater strength? More bulk? Both, perhaps? The sort of hypertrophy you're after will be key in developing the best workout program to achieve your goal.

Hypertrophy doesn't occur overnight, of course. You have to design a plan that will meet your needs and goals, addressing each necessary element. Part of that plan needs to be regularly changing your routine.

Why Do I Need to Change my Routine Regularly?
Our muscles have a memory of sorts, and they become accustomed to the same routine movements and exertion levels. They'll become accustomed to repetitive use, and will work only the portions of your muscles that are required for your workout. In other words, they get lazy, and will do only as much as you require of them.

When you don't vary your workout routine, the muscles adapt to it and your progress slows, then finally stops. You hit a plateau, and your efforts after that, without changing your routine, will be a waste of time and energy.

If you find yourself hitting a plateau, there are a number of things to look at:

• What exercises are you doing?
• How many reps?
• What's your intensity level?
• Are you taking enough time off?
• Are you eating properly?

These all play important parts in your program, and you can manage them to keep your program productive.
You can't expect any plan to work unless you actually have a plan and follow it! Realize that your muscles will adapt, and work modifications into your plan to overcome that. That's the way to avoid the frustration of hitting plateaus and to help you to reach your goal faster.

Just because the results you're getting today are fantastic doesn't mean they'll continue to work for you. Remember, the body you're training today is not the same body you were training last week. And different bodies require different routines.

How Often Should I Change my Routine?
There's no one-size-fits-all answer to that question, as there are several variables that affect both when you should change your program and what changes you should make. There are three major factors that you should consider, though:

• your fitness and performance goals
• the age of your workout
• the progress you're making

Let's examine these three to see how you should schedule your changes.

Fitness and performance goals
Depending upon how distant your goals are and how fast you want to achieve them, you may be able to adopt a routine that's less intense than that of someone that wants to be a superstar immediately. If so, you'll have more flexibility in how often you change your routine, as you may be able to get results from your routine for weeks or even for a few months.

If, on the other hand, you're really pushing, trying to get immediate results, your muscles will adapt more rapidly, so you'll need to change routines a lot more frequently - maybe every few weeks, possibly even every few days, depending upon your progress.

Regardless of your goals - bulk, strength or endurance - you'll want to periodize your workouts. For instance, you may be doing 3 weeks of really intense 20 minute workouts, then change to 3 weeks of less intense workouts for 30 minute periods, then a few weeks of low intensity 60 minute workouts. Keep your muscles guessing by modifying both intensity and duration every few weeks.

Workout age
If you've been working out regularly for several months or a year, you're probably going to need to modify your routine more often than if you had just started your fitness program. As you continue working out, the muscles "learn" the routine, and will put only as much into it as necessary. Changing up the duration and intensity keeps them from getting too accustomed to the routine, which can put you at a plateau. This is why you'll increase the intensity of your program as you go along.

Progress
By now, you should realize that your buddy of the same weight, height, condition and age will see different results from yours, with the same workout. We're all different, and even with everything else being equal, you can't expect to see the same progress that he will. Yours may exceed his or fall short. Get over it! The only results that matter are yours!

This is why tracking your progress is very important. Your muscles may develop and adapt more quickly or slowly than you expect, so the adjustments you make, and their timing, will be unique to you. Being instantly aware of a plateau will allow you to make rapid changes, which will get you to your goals with less lost plateau time.

Plan your work and work your plan! You need to plan your training phases in advance, making certain to address all aspects of your plan, if you want to reach your ultimate fitness goals. You may decide to modify various aspects of your program - duration, intensity or type of exercise. You may even decide to start an entirely new program. But you must change it, or you risk stalling and not reaching your final goal!
Stay out of your "comfort zone".

3 Reasons Why You Aren't Building Muscle

You have probably heard this before…

Doing 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps with 60 to 180 seconds rest between sets is THE BEST way to build muscle.

If fact, this is why the vast majority of beginners fail to build muscle. Sure it may work for them early in their weight lifting career. Pretty much anything you do – with a decent effort – will get you at least some results early on. But here lies the problem.

That same beginner will eventually hit the dreaded plateau. Their previously rapid muscle buildinggains dwindle until they are barely maintaining their muscles. So what do they end up doing? Going from one workout style to the next in an attempt to continue with their growth – TRX, kettlebells, crossfit, circuit training, super high reps, super low reps, then back to their original workout routine, and so on.

But eventually that beginner will completely lose motivation and stop working out altogether. Does this sound like somebody you know?

The Perfect Muscle Building Workout Does Not Exist

First of all, I think I need to be absolutely clear about something. There is no such thing as the perfect muscle-building workout, and the worst thing you can do is believe the myth that there is a magic workout that you should do year in and year out to stay on a vertical path for your muscle building gains. If such a workout existed, we would all look as if we were carved out of stone.

You will often hear of forums littered with die-hard fans of one style of training or the other who believe that the theory of training they are following is the absolute best way to build muscle and strength. Usually these theories are on extreme opposite ends of the scale…high reps, low reps, high volume, low volume, and the list goes on and on.

As I mentioned previously, there is NO such thing as a PERFECT muscle-building workout. There is however an optimal way to train for a specific period of time, or phase, but the most thought-out workout and best periodization in the world won’t make any difference if you make the most common muscle-building mistakes.

#1 – You aren’t using a program based on your body type

Forget what you are most comfortable with. It is often the workouts that we are comfortable with that give us the least muscle-building gains. Remember, your body will create a training adaptation to anything you throw at it. The longer you use a particular style of training, the more likely you will hit a plateau.

You need to train according to your BODY TYPE, not what you are most comfortable with.

A) ECTOMORPHS

For example, pure ectomorphs are more comfortable with a routine of 10 to 15 repetitions because they “feel it” more. However, if they shift their focus for a while to a lower repetition range of 6 to 8 with fewer sets but more frequent workouts, they will respond better.

B) MESOMORPHS

Mesomorphic body types respond in the range of 8 to 12 repetitions, training each body part once a week. As well, mesomorphs will use more sets but need less frequent workouts.

C) ENDOMORPHS

Endomorphs typically respond best to repetitions in the range of 10 to 15 since they tend to have more strength, but not much in the way of muscle endurance. Endomorphs respond best to higher volume workouts with greater frequency.

#2 – You don’t record and PLAN your workouts

This is a trap I see SO MANY people fall into. They go to the gym, aimlessly go from machine to machine, then choose an arbitrary time to pack it in and go home.

That’s like trying to save millions of dollars without ever taking a look at your bank statement or using a financial planner. It is a HUGE waste of time and effort.

How do you fix that? First off, buy or create your own PERIODIZED muscle-building workout program with proper PHASES. Each phase should be roughly one month, with four days off between phases.

Then you need to RECORD your workouts. Do not be the guy (or girl) who uses 50 pound dumbbells one week, 70 pounds the next, and 45 pounds the week after that. You need to work on a steady progression of improvements. If you don't record what you did last time there is no way you will remember what you need to do when you next hit that body part.

#3 - You don’t know the FUCTION of the muscle and how to apply TENSION

If you don’t know how the muscle is supposed to move, then how do you know you are working that muscle?

You have probably seen that guy (or girl) in the gym doing barbell curls but only moving his HIPS. There is no TENSION in the working muscle. Like I often say, it doesn’t matter how many reps you do if they all SUCK!

Or maybe you have seen that guy that may take 10 seconds to do 10 repetitions. He would be just as well off doing 1 rep using a 5 second concentric (contraction) and 5 second eccentric (lowering). At least that would actually reduce momentum and apply tension to the working muscle.

If he understood the premise of a biceps curl is full elbow extension and flexion, his muscle-building gains would improve astronomically.

It is imperative that you EDUCATE yourself to get better results and prevent injury. Through education you will achieve your goals faster while maintaining a healthier – and injury resistant - body.

Conclusion

Again, everything I have written is not carved in stone but the basic underlying principle remains. You need to plan, plan, and plan some more based on your individual needs, goals, and time frame. As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

The theories above will give you a great starting place to optimize your muscle-building program and help you achieve EPIC results.

Arm Building Video

If you have been looking for an arm blasting, muscle building workout, I put together this video, with my wife Falvia, to show how to build muscle for your triceps and biceps.

Training To Please The Camera

Have you ever found yourself wondering how actors like Mike Wahlberg, Jason Momoa, Terry Lautner or Chris Evans manage to get so buff, so fast, for their powerhouse roles on the big screen?

It’s important to note that these folks are trying to achieve a specific appearance, as opposed to ability. In other words, Manu Bennett needed to look like a gladiator in his role… not necessarily have the strength and endurance of one.

There are techniques one can use to develop the most visible characteristics associated with such roles. These techniques focus on the superficial aspects, with little attention to building core strength. They primarily consist of the sort of activity involved with the character’s role, so as to develop the expected appearance.

These actors and others like them may employ professional trainers to manage their preparation over a few months in order to prepare themselves for filming. This may be more costly than you’re willing to accept, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it for yourself. Like any physical training program, it’s simply a matter of focusing your training activities on the results you seek.

Achieving the appearance you want

Studying the workouts these guys used to build up for their roles as “Irish” Micky Ward, Conan, Jason Black or Captain America, you won’t spot any spectacular training protocol or earth-shaking nutrition regimen. Basically, they all employed frequent, brief, high-intensity workouts, in various styles.

While there isn’t much information available on their diets, it’s safe to assume that every meal was based on protein and vegetable intake, with plenty of complex carbohydrates thrown in to suit their individual goals and metabolism. And if they weren’t targeting a large gain in muscle weight, they probably added a little healthy fat, such as nuts and nut butters. Looking primarily at their physical training itself, there are some takeaways that can apply to most of us, to improve the effectiveness:

Takeaway #1: Motivation- You can bet that these guys and others like them are motivated by current and future multi-million-dollar movie deals. You need to be motivated, too, whether it’s for your general health, the admiration of your life partner or just achieving a personal goal. Find that motivation and nurture it! Put something at stake. Reward yourself for success or deny yourself for failure. Make a bet with a buddy, pledge a donation to some group you don’t particularly like if you fail, promise to buy yourself that new car after you succeed… you get the idea. Put some blood in the game.

Takeaway #2: Set a deadline- “Goals without deadlines are dreams!” Set a concrete deadline for yourself and be inflexible. You were down with the flu for a week? Too bad! Suck it up and make it up! The tougher you are with yourself in this regard, the greater success you’ll enjoy.

Takeaway #3: Work around stress- We all have certain times of the year that are more stressful, whether it’s a busy season at work, getting caught up after the holidays or just being cooped up inside by blizzards. Schedule your most aggressive programs during the least stressful times. You’ll be more focused and less distracted by outside factors.

Takeaway #4: Judge your success by YOU, not by others- If you’re new to the muscle building campaign, here’s great news for you: you’ll see substantially faster progress than the established pros, in the same timeframe. That’s because our muscles will grow faster when they’re forced to adapt. By the same token, if you’ve been at it a while, don’t be discouraged when you see that skinny kid that’s only been at it a few weeks getting buff, while you’re seeing little gain yourself. His muscles are being forced to adapt… your muscles may already be past that point.

Takeaway #5: Don’t rush things- Those actors mentioned above will usually have three to four months to accomplish their transformation. A comprehensive performance-oriented training program can take much longer, but in four months, it’s not difficult to create the illusion of a gain of 20 pounds or so of muscle, if done right. There are no silver bullets, friends! Transformation still takes dedication, work and time. Give yourself plenty of all three. If you rush it, you may not be satisfied with the results.

Takeaway #6: Illusion has its place… optimize that- When appearance, versus performance, is your goal, there are some “tricks” to styling your transformation to optimize that. Focusing on the muscle groups that are most visible, such as the upper chest, shoulders, traps, biceps, abs and upper back all give the illusion of a more powerful build. Perspective comes into play here - often, that illusion is partly accented by a tiny waist.

Takeaway #7: Find your real leanness target- When your goal is to give the appearance of being lean, don’t overdo it. When a man gets his body fat down to anywhere within the 13-18% range, his appearance will be essentially the same. Below the Lean Threshold of 10%, he’ll be very lean (as opposed to ripped at 6 – 9% or shredded at 5% or less). Over 18%, he may appear to be soft or fat. To really make your physique noteworthy, try to achieve 10% body fat (about 15% for a woman) and maintain it. You’ll find that once you reach 10% body fat, it’s not that difficult to maintain that level.

Takeaway #8: Achieve specific goals- Your workout regimen should be designed to develop the appearance that you’re looking for, so it should involve the specific type of training involved with that activity. If you want to look like a professional boxer, you probably don’t want to focus on bicycle training to develop your calves & thighs, while ignoring your upper body. Before beginning, take time to identify the precise effects you want to project, and design your workouts accordingly.

Bringing it all together to achieve your goals

Actors know precisely what look they need to achieve, and their training is designed to bring them that look. Your training should be similarly focused, in order to achieve the quickest and most effective results. Don’t let yourself be sidetracked into training that doesn’t contribute directly to your goals. In this sort of program, more isn’t necessarily better.

It should be obvious that the repeated use of “appearance” and “look” imply just that. You may have those six-pack abs you want to show off on the beach, but that doesn’t imply you have the core strength to take a couple of rounds of belly punches from Evander Holyfield.

While this sort of training certainly contributes to your health, it’s important to remember that the results are somewhat superficial. Just because you may think you look like you can snatch 500 lbs of free weight doesn’t mean you can. This sort of training won’t prepare you for highly strenuous activity, but it can make you look like you do it every day. Recognize the performance limitations of this type of training and avoid injuring yourself.

8 Steps to a Muscle-Building Diet

Everyone talks about calories. Whether the goal is to lose weight or gain muscle, everyone wants to know that magic number. The truth is that everyone’s caloric needs are different. The exact amount has to do with existing body weight and activity level. If you’re an average person, you need to consume 10 calories for every pound of body weight just to maintain your existing weight. Gradually increasing that by an additional 500-1000 calories a day will help with weight gain. In fact, an additional 7 calories per pound are required to be able to perform intense weight training exercises and cardio. So, for example, a 170 pound individual would need to consume 2,890 calories a day in order to be able to build quality muscle (170 x 17 = 2890).

The percentage of where these calories are coming from is equally important. Bodybuilders do well with a 40/30/30 ratio, 40% complete complex carbs, 30% protein and 30 % fats. This, of course, is a guideline. Listen to your body; everyone has different dietary responses. Your metabolism, body fat levels and insulin sensitivity will all factor in on how your body responds. If you are not seeing results or aren’t happy with how you feel, make adjustments until you arrive at a ratio that works for you.

Ideally, when attempting to build muscle, your overall goal should be to gain anywhere from half a pound to two pounds of muscle each week. Adding extra calories, above your normal intake, will promote faster results. There is, however, a right way and a wrong way to do this. The tips below can help you in your muscle building diet regime.

1.  Start your day off right with an organic greens supplement. Infusing your body with vitamins and minerals as well as phytonutrients, amino acids, alkaline salts and chlorophyll is a great way to wake up. Not only will you be neutralizing acid but you will be ensuring that your cells are able to thrive in a healthy environment.
2.  Create a rhythm to your meals by eating five, calorie-rich meals at regular intervals throughout the day. Be sure to include healthy, whole foods as well as one muscle-building, protein shake each day. The extra calories may initially seem excessive, but are necessary to aid muscle growth.
3. In addition to eating at regular intervals, be sure to space your carbs out throughout the day as well. In fact, consuming carbs before training, during training, 1 hour after training and 4 hours after training is ideal. The key is to only give your body carbs when needed for intense activity. 
4.  In addition, to spacing your carbs out at key points throughout the day it is equally important to vary the source of your carbs. Consuming strictly potatoes at every meal does not help your body perform at its peak and may cause food allergies. For the best results, alternate between potatoes, yams, brown rice, Ezekiel bread, oatmeal, beans and small amounts of fruit. If you are substituting a shake for a meal, the best solution would be a carb powder like Vitargo or Karbolyn, which are the top two choices on the market currently. Gatorade can substitute in a pinch. 
5.  Proteins are an important part of any muscle-building diet. They help our bodies boost both digestion and absorption. Be sure to vary your protein sources, selecting from quality options like buffalo, sirloin, poultry, salmon and eggs. If you are substituting a protein shake, hydrolyzed protein is the top powder supplement. 
6.  Don’t forget your veggies. They taste good and they’re good for you. Adding a least 1 cup of vegetables to your plate at every meal helps with digestion, absorption and controlling blood sugar levels. 
7.  Like everything else, change up the sources of your fat at every meal. Eating a variety of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats is good for you. There are many great sources to use that are healthy and taste great.  Try nuts and seeds (walnuts, pecans, cashews or almonds as well as pumpkin and sunflower seeds), nut butters, coconut oil and olive oil. 
8. Drinking a shake 30 minutes into your workout not only keeps you hydrated but also helps to reduce the effect of cortisol being released into your bloodstream and to encourage muscle growth. Be sure to include 30-50 grams of carb powder, 5-10 grams of glutamine, 5-10 grams of branch chain amino acids, and 3-5 grams of creatine for a powerful boost.

Just to give you a better understanding of what these tips mean in terms of real food, here is a sample daily meal plan for a person weighing 200 pounds who is interested in gaining muscle. Of course, you can adjust this according to your needs, personal tastes and budget.

Sample Meals:

Meal 1
8 oz of extra lean beef

3 whole eggs
1 cup of veggies

2 ounces of mixed nuts

Meal 2 (Pre-Workout)
8 oz of white fish 

2 cups pasta (preferable whole wheat)
1 cup of tomato sauce
1 cup of veggies

Meal 3/ Workout Shake (Begin Sipping During Workout)
80 grams of carb powder + Glutamine, Creatine, BCAA
15 minutes later – 40 grams of isolate protein

Meal 4 (1 Hour Post Workout)
12 oz of chicken 

12 oz of sweet potato
2 cups of veggies

Meal 5 (4 Hours Post Workout)
8 oz of turkey

2 cups of broccoli

1 cup of egg whites

2 cups of brown rice
1 slice of low-fat cheese
1 cup of veggies 

Meal 6:
10 oz steak or salmon
1 cup of veggies

2 oz avocado

The “Freebie” Meal

Everyone gets busy. It happens to the best of us. Work.Family obligations.The alarm clock. I’ve designed this diet plan to allow room for a “Freebie” meal, which is basically anything you want, even a burger and fries. The goal is to hit your calories for the day and move on. Don’t let little hurdles get in the way.

The best way that I have found to follow a diet plan like this is to keep a food log. Use a notebook; make an excel spreadsheet, whatever works for you. Keep track of your calories and break it down by how many grams of protein, carbs and fats you are ingesting. By logging your daily intake, you have a better picture of your journey, where you have been and where you are headed. If you do not feel on pace to hit your goals, you can look over your notes and easily make changes. See where you went wrong or what worked in the past. 

Building muscle is a goal that you can accomplish. The above tips can help you reach that goal. And, just for inspiration:

“An athlete who tells you the training is always easy and always fun simply hasn't been there. Goals can be elusive, which makes the difficult journey all the more rewarding.” (Alberto Salazar)

Five Rare Muscle Building Tips For Skinny Guys

I'm going to share five rare muscle building tips for skinny guys who want to build muscle quickly and naturally. The information below will require you to read with an open mind and really think about what you are reading and why it works.

Tip #1 For Skinny Guys: Clarify your goals

Here is what most skinny guys say, “I want to gain a lot of mass!” Can you be any more vague? A better goal is, “I want to gain 14 pounds of muscle by July 1st.”  You need specific and measurable goals if you ever want to see them become real.

Tip #2 For Skinny Guys: Train on a stable surface 

Trying to build your chest up on a stability ball is a big waste of time. Unstable surfaces are more neurologically challenging but you are not overloading your “core” muscles with sufficient stimulus to trigger growth.

Let’s compare a supine dumbbell chest press on a ball versus a dumbbell chest press on a bench.  During a dumbbell chest press on a ball, most skinny guys will barely be able to press 50 pounds a side and the unstable surface will result in triggering the lateral stabilizer motor units you don’t need to keep you from flipping off the ball, so it reduces neural drive from the muscles you do need and are trying to improve (pecs, shoulder flexors and triceps).  Whenever the body recognizes an unstable foundation for force production, its force generating output is down-regulated accordingly.  In short, overloading the muscle is required to stimulate new muscle growth so why limit the load? There’s no point!

Tip #3 For Skinny Guys: Stop believing, “You got to shock the body.”

Even today, you’ll hear this quote come up in gyms, forums, infomercials and other media with the belief that “you have to tear down the muscle and then build it back up.”  But is this true? Absolutely, the catalyst for change is variation from your norm level of fitness. But the idea that one has to annihilate one’s tissues and physiological/neurological processes must be brought to question. 

Is getting a sun burn necessary to experience a tan? Does increased bone density require a fracture? Do calluses require lacerations? When seeking adaptation, the goal should be to seek out least amount of unaccustomed activity. In fact, you want the stimulus to be virtually imperceptible as an increased challenge. This would be considered the ideal stimulus for the most immediate adaptation response, especially in the beginning.  In weight training, we strive to increase our loads approximately 2% each workout. Anything more and you’ll move more towards microscopic tissue damage and associated signs to injury including delayed onset muscle soreness, edema and lengthy recovery period.

 Tip #4 For Skinny Guys: More is less! 

90% of people use volume as the primary stressor and get the result they seek 10% of the time. 10% of people use intensity as the primary stressor and get the results they seek 90% of the time.

This training principle extends from tip #3, and stresses that for many instances, you will get a quicker training effect from doing a smaller amount of training.  In short, you will see more results when doing less training.

Tip #5 For Skinny Guys: Always ask, “Is there anything I can do before this… to better prepare for this… to lesson the leap?”

Can running have a positive influence on your health? Of course, but the level of participation is key. Why do people spend months recovering from a marathon? Was 26.2 miles the perfect distance for each of those 20,000 people to run on that given day at that time of the day?  There are many variables that must be progressed based on what you are currently accustomed to.  Here are some areas of progression that must be considered:

• From none to some
• From sloppy to controlled
• From small range of motion to large range of motion
• From stable surface to unstable surface
• From light to heavy
• From slow to fast
• From minimal volume to more volume
• From minimal effort to maximal effort

Understand that “micro progressions” are not “wimpy”. It simply means, “You’ve got to earn the right to do more, go faster, lift heavier etc. Controlling everything you do is the key!” It’s not about how much you do but HOW WELL you do it!  Remember, we’re trying to get a sun tan, not a sun burn!

Sprint Training : Less Time, Better Results

Everyone is busy. From elite athletes to weekend warriors, everyone has demands on their schedule that make fitting in a regular, 60 minute cardio workout difficult. If you are tight for time, but still interested in getting a full workout, sprint training may be right for you. As an added benefit, it also improves your physical conditioning. In fact, some athletes actually prefer sprint training because they see greater results during intense sprint training sessions, in less time than their traditional ones. And, frankly, who wouldn’t love more results from less time and effort?

But, What Is Sprint Training?
Sprint training involves short bursts of intense exercise followed by periods of rest and recovery. If the weather is nice, this intense workout can be performed outdoors, but a treadmill works just as well. Individual programs may vary based on your current level of fitness and conditioning, but usually include 30 seconds of all out sprinting and 60 seconds of resting. This 2:1 ratio of fast, explosive energy followed by a resting period is essential to allow the body time to recover before the next set. This cycle can be repeated 6 – 8 times and should include a warm up period as well as a cool down period at the end. The goal is to develop explosive power, which can’t be achieved from a cardio activity like jogging. Elite college, Olympic and professional athletes use sprint training to help them with everything from getting off the blocks a split second faster at their next race to being able to pull away from the defender and make that amazing catch on the football field. Even if your glory days are behind you, sprint training still has many benefits to offer.

5 Added Benefits
In addition to time management, sprint training can have numerous beneficial health effects.

1. EPOC: Otherwise known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, EPOC is the amount of energy it takes for your body to return to normal after an exceptionally challenging workout. In other words, your body is continuing to burn calories long after you finish your session. Researchers originally discovered this phenomenon in 1922, dubbing it oxygen debt, but these days they are aware of the positive effects of EPOC on a body from weight management perspective due to the large caloric burn associated with it.
2. Upregulate: When your body becomes accustomed to this type of workout, it produces more of certain enzymes that increase the storage capacity of the muscle for energy substrates, such as ATP. Not surprisingly, this, in turn, allows you to work both harder and faster for longer and longer periods of time without tiring. ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is the most-used energy source in a body. In fact, if DNA is the building block of life, ATP is the building block of energy, powering almost all cellular activities.
3. Phosphate Metabolism: Basically, this phosphate works at conserving and transferring energy at a cellular level and phosphate creatine stores comprise a major component of the body’s fuel source for muscular activity. Obviously, anything you can do to improve your phosphate metabolism is going to assist you in other areas of training and performance. Most notably, myokinase, which is an enzyme that is responsible for resynthesizing the energy from phosphate creatine, it will increase its concentration within the muscle tissue by up to 20% after sprint training.
4. Glycolysis: This occurs after you’ve been doing sprint training for a period of time. The basic biology lesson is that glycolysis is the primary form of metabolism used during a 10 second all out sprint and contributes between 55 and 75% towards energy production during exercise.
5. Buffering Capacity: Another adaptation that’s experienced with sprint training is the buffering capacity of the muscle. Many byproducts are created during glycolysis, including lactic acid. When these accumulate in the body, it generates extreme feelings of fatigue in the muscle tissues, which, unfortunately, forces many athletes to stop exercising as this fatigue sets in. Luckily, sprint training increases one’s ability to buffer these byproducts and this increased buffering capacity allows an athlete to extend both workout length and intensity.

Safety

Sprint training is not for everyone however. Beginners should concentrate on getting a strong base of fitness and gradually build up their volume of training, intensity and endurance. In fact, starting a sprint training workout without advance preparation can cause muscle soreness and may even cause injury to those ill-equipped. Taking the time to work towards a sprint training goal is important, even as long as a month or two. Being prepared only makes it that much more effective in the long run. As with any new exercise regime, check with your physician before starting any program.

Summary

Sprint training is a great way to improve your overall health and conditioning. The short, explosive bursts of intense physical activity help at a cellular level by upregulating enzyme production that aids in energy storage and, in turn, by increasing phosphate metabolism that assists in both energy storage and transfer. Furthermore, the body’s overall buffering capacity is improved, which prevents the by-products of intense workout activities, such as lactic acid, from causing fatigue. In fact, athletes who incorporate sprint training into their regimes see a dramatic improvement in their endurance and general cardiovascular fitness in a very short time, which is extremely important to serious athletes, both professional and amateur alike.

Sprint training is also a great way for busy athletes to cram an intensely physical workout into their hectic schedules. For those who have no intention of setting foot on a football field, a race track or in a swimming pool but still have a competitive spirit and a desire to improve their performance, sprint training is a great choice. The fact that it can push one to new levels, with greater benefits in less time is a tremendous benefit. The next time you’re tight on time and schedule-challenged, choose sprint training over a longer, less effective 60 minute cardio session.