Dis-Functional Training

At almost every fitness seminar, you will hear the phrase “functional training.” Presenters will tell you how traditional bodybuilding exercises won’t help our neuro-musculo-skeletal health and how they are leading us to muscular imbalances.

But the fact remains that every individual who walks into a gym wants the very same thing – to change how he or she looks. Very few people join the gym because they feel they need to improve their stability.

End of an Era

Functional training is now apparently the only way to train, apparently leaving bodybuilding in the past. So are these functional advocates telling us that building muscle is bad for us? Surely building muscle is the body’s natural response to hard work, and we replicate hard work in the gym with resistance.

Bodybuilding programme design is based upon one principle: in order to increase the area of our muscles, we perform repeated resisted movements which, in turn, induce fatigue within a certain time. This can be performed for all of the “major” muscle groups in a variety of layouts.

Decreased Function

Most bodybuilders will have been told that using 8-12 repetitions will achieve the best results when wanting to increase size and they will very seldom, if ever, deviate from this repetition range.

Reaching maximum voluntary contraction within this time frame will ensure that the body is heavily dependent on the lactate (anaerobic) energy system for ATP production. However, when you exercise for these short periods you will not promote a proportionate increase in capillary density due to a decreased dependence on oxygen.

“A rapid increase in the volume of a muscle cell, without any increase in the capillary network that supplies the muscle, will lead to an ischaemic environment being created. This will result in diminished nutrient and oxygen supply, which slows down the metabolic processes within the muscle and the disposal of metabolic waste products from the muscle” – (Zalessky & Burkhanov, Legkaya Atlitika, 1981).

So, in short, many bodybuilders will have fewer capillaries per square inch of muscle than even sedentary individuals, let alone other exercisers.

“The decreased oxygen carrying and utilisation abilities of hypertrophied muscles will affect their ability to respond positively to exercise, leading to irreversible structural damage occurring within the muscle.”

Tendon & Ligament Damage

Another detrimental effect of bodybuilding on muscle function is the decreased ability of the connective tissue to repair and strengthen itself in proportion to the muscles. Due to the reduced nutrient and blood supply, ligaments and tendons can take up to seven times longer than muscle tissue to recover from a single bout of exercise.

“Increases in strength, brought about through muscle hypertrophy without proportionate increases in connective tissue strength, will inevitably lead to tendon and ligament damage” – (Zalessky & Burkhanov, Legkaya Atlitika, 1981).

With both of these situations in mind, surely it’s no coincidence that bodybuilders have the highest injury rate – the most common being muscular tears. Be sensible when it comes to weight training and seek professional advice on what suits you best when it comes to a programme.

4 Keys to Weight Loss Success

Successful “losers” share four factors in their ability to take weight off and keep it off.

By James O. Hill, PhD
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic-Feature

Reviewed by Charlotte E. Grayson Mathis, MD

If you listen to a lot of the stories in the media, you might believe that losing weight and keeping it off is virtually impossible. The common wisdom is pretty discouraging. Sure, you can lose weight, but what’s the point, since you’ll just put it on again sooner or later? And since your body type is determined by your genes, why bother trying anyway?

Well, here’s the encouraging news: Regardless of body type or genetics

What is the Zone?

The Zone is not some mystical place or some clever marketing terms. It is a real physiological state in your body where the hormones that control silent inflammation are maintined in a zone that is not too high, but not too low. This requires treating food as if it were a drug to be taken at the right dose and at the right time. However, saying food is a drug is actually derogatory to food since your diet affects hormones that are hundreds of times more powerful than any drug. Im many respects, food will be the most powerful drug you will ever take because you are using this drug at least three times a day for the rest of your life. Thus your diet can be your greatest ally or worst enemy because the hormonal rules for humans haven’t changed in the past 150,000 years, and they probably won’t change tomorrow.

Three things in life are visceral religion, politics, and diet.  All are based on belief systems and are not subject to debate.  True believers say, “don’t confuse me with the facts, because in my heart I know I’m right”.  I can’t do much about religion or politics, but at least nutrition can be examined experimentally.  The question is not what is the best diet for weight loss, but what is the best diet for reversing silent inflammation?  Of course along the way a number of other important questions will be answered.  This is why in every carefully controlled research study in which the Zone Diet has been compared to other dietary programs, the Zone has been found to be superior in hormonal control, blood glucose control, blood lipid control, appetite suppression, fat loss, and most importantly the reduction of silent inflammation.

Nutrition

The KOR dietary prescription is as follows:
Protein should be lean and varied and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic and account for about 40% of your total caloric load.
Fat should be predominantly monounsaturated and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Calories should be set at between .7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass depending on your activity level. The .7 figure is for moderate daily workout loads and the 1.0 figure is for the hardcore athlete.

 

What Should I Eat?

Sports Conditioning

At KOR Personal Training, we have experience training kids to elite athletes from the collegiate level to those training for the Olympics.

We are not “just” trainers for athletes: our experience with athletes at all levels of competition, allows us to provide leading training practices to exercisers of all ability levels. We assess the athlete’s performance from every angle:

Speed
Agility
Strength
Power
Endurance
Balance
Posture
Flexibility

Our goal is to strengthen your weak points and make your strong points even stronger.

If you want to be prepared, whether it’s a single athlete or a whole team, KOR Personal Training can put together an effective program that will put you and your team two steps ahead of the competition.

KOR Kids

Kids today are not just into going outside and riding their bikes. They are out playing sports. They are not just falling off their bikes and skinning their knees either. They are pulling muscles and tearing ligaments.

At KOR your child will undergo one of our comprehensive fitness evaluations, during which we will identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as potential structural, postural and mechanical problems. All of this information aids us in ensuring that your child’s training is the most appropriate and individualized training that we can provide.

Physical education teachers have been telling parents that their children are having coordination problems. To address this we create a program of exercises that will challenge their neurological system and cause it to learn to become more aware of itself.

Weight gain is something that has become a big problem with kids lately. At KOR we are very sensitive to this. We have worked with overweight kids before and we have learned how to approach their weight loss. Even though some kids need to lose weight it shouldnt become their main focus in life. It should just be something that happends because they have become more active and are eating better.The more it becomes a focus, the worse they feel about themselves. That’s why we try to keep the exercises different each time and try to keep it fun for them. That way they don’t get bored and lose motivation.

Boot-Camp

Get ready for a serious fat burn. ENLIST NOW!!!

KORcamp is a high intensity class that anyone can do. there are modifications to each exercise and you will not be told to do exercises beyond your skill set or ability.  Each class is structured differently that way your body never has a chance to get used to the program, so you always progress and you never get bored.

Lose weight, sculpt, tone, feel great in your own skin.Change your body, change your mind. Experience invaluable training with our motivational Personal Trainers and Boot Camp Trainers.

Come to KOR Personal Training and see what you’re really made of.

You have 3 different choices for bootcamp:

Right now classes are on Mon and Wed from 9:15-10 and Fri from 10-10:45

If those time aren’t right for you call us and we might be able to start another class at another time. All we need is 3 people to start a class.

1. once a week for 7 weeks $120.00

2. Twice a week for 7 weeks $240.00

3. Three times a week for 7 weeks $360.00

Excess post exercise oxygen consumption

 After cardiovascular exercise or weight training, the body continues to need oxygen at a higher rate than before the exercise began. This sustained oxygen consumption is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). Originally referred to as an oxygen debt, this pos-exercise state was first hypothesized by A.V. Hill and H. Lupton in 1922. Hill and Lupton theorized that the body needs to replace the oxygen used by working muscles during mild to intense bouts of exercise. More recently, researchers have used the term EPOC to describe the several different events that occur as the body restores itself to homeostasis, or rest. 

 This article will describe the physiological factors that contribute to EPOC, discuss its relation to weight management and review a recent article on EPOC and resistance training.

Rich

Rich Ruffing, CSCS

Having worked in the strength and conditioning field for years, Rich has established himself as an expert in  performance enhancement and physique transformation.  It is his “in the trenches” experience and  in-depth knowledge that has allowed Rich to be successful with a large number of his clients.

Rich has his Bachelors Degree in Sports Biology and is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. After college Rich interned with the Maine Maritime academy football team as the assistant coach.

Rich has been training since 2000, working in health clubs and studios and working with a variety of clients. He is a writer for allexperts.com and also writes a column for the Cambridge Chronicle.

Dave

David Gleason, CSCS

David received his Bachelor’s of Science in Sports Medicine/Health and Fitness from Keene State College in 1993. His athletic career peaked as a division 2 All-New England candidate and All-Conference soccer captain for Keene State.

Dave is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (National Strength and Conditioning Association). David’s training history spans from New Hampshire to New York, Arizona and back home again to Massachusetts, logging thousands of hours helping people of all abilities and populations reach their full physical potential. He has successfully worked as a strength coach for state, regional, national and world ranked athletes in variety of different sports. Having trained clients in ages ranging from 6 – 90 years of age, Dave has created programming for individuals, small groups, and teams maximizing performance in work, play…and in life!
Dave is the co-inventor of the Omni Resistance Ball, a new fitness product that exploded onto the commercial fitness market in September of 2002 (www.performbetter.com). With management experience in small and large fitness facilities as well as owning his own in-home personal training business and his exercise equipment manufacturing business, Dave has developed many different skill sets pertaining to fitness business success.
David has presented locally, regionally and nationally on variety of fitness topics to fitness professionals including training methodologies and how to be profitable in the fitness industry through personal training. For the public and private sector Dave has lectured on reducing back injuries in the workplace, stress management, supplementation and working out less with more results. Dave has also conducted teleseminars on topics such as “10 ways to burn more calories without exercise”, “The couch potato workout”, “Vacation workouts” and “Your ‘why’ – the link between fitness success and failure”.
“The underestimated power of potential lies in the fact that potential is unused effort”
“One of God’s gifts to us is potential; our gift back is the effort to reach it!”
Dave currently resides in Pembroke, Massachusetts with his wife Andrea and two sons, Trevor and Andrew.