Science
-
Talking to yourself helps you lift
We’ve all seen him: the guy at the gym who goes there more for a social gathering than a workout. And we’ve all seen his physique, the one that looks the same year after year – the same size, the same conditioning. While he does a lot of talking, he doesn’t do much working, so he doesn’t grow. No surprise there. But if you go to the gym, research shows that you should be talking – to yourself. A study has examined the effects of “self-talk” on exercise performance and found that talking to yourself during exercise can produce impressive...
-
Never say you’re too tired to train
Everyone gets tired – especially after a long, tough workout where you’ve given it your all to stimulate every last muscle fiber. After a tough workout, the best thing to do is rest, eat and recover so that you can grow stronger and bigger as fast as possible. But what happens when you’re just feeling beat and you can’t muster the energy to train? Some bodybuilding “experts” advise taking an extra rest day when you just don’t have the juice to hammer at the iron, in hopes of being able to hack it the next day. Makes sense, right? Wrong....
-
Believe to achieve
A new study shows that believing that you can achieve a lift actually helps you lift it. Now how do you scientifically test belief? Like this. Researchers informed healthy study participants that they were testing caffeine’s effects on performance and post-exercise heart rate. One group was told it would be given a caffeine drink immediately prior to working out, while another was told it would be given a placebo. However, rather than actually giving a caffeine drink to one of the groups, the researchers gave both groups a placebo. Participants then performed single-leg leg-extension exercises for 15 repetitions at 60...
-
Big lifts versus the pre-exhaust
To get bloody huge, you know you need to respect the trifecta: eat, rest and train. But with so much available information and so many conflicting opinions, it can be confusing. And it’s no different at the gym. You hear that you need to do the big lifts first. So you plan to do squats, deads and the bench press at the start of your session. Then you also hear that if you want to grow, you need to pre-exhaust your muscles before hitting them with the big compounds. So what’s the correct way to do it? Researchers looked at...
-
Stretching – Is it Worth It?
Stretching has gotten a bad rap lately. Research is saying that stretching before a workout inhibits performance and strength. Also, it may not actually reduce the chance of injury or improve performance. Take this with a grain of salt, though. There’s inconclusive evidence on this; there’s no clear answer. So many athletes and bodybuilders have shunned stretching (or may just have been lazy), but recent research shows that stretching can be beneficial. Researchers in Taiwan examined an eight-week stretching program to see if there were any benefits. They looked at static stretching, holding a stretch for about 30 seconds then...
-
Gastrocnemius & Foot position
Big, bulging, diamond-shaped calves are a bloody damn impressive sight to behold. They can bring an individual’s physique to a whole new level. Yet, any bodybuilder knows that calves are one of the most stubborn body parts to grow. But what if there’s something you can do to help take them to a new level? Well, there very well might be, and it’s simple: alternating your foot position on heel raises. Researchers looked at how foot placement during a heel raise affects the different heads of the gastrocnemius (your large calf muscle). They found that pointing your toes inward (heels...