Maximize Your Fitness Regimen With Power Nutrition

Trying to maximize your athletic ability is a comprehensive process. Simply going to the gym and throwing around some heavy weights is unlikely to help you attain most of your athletic goals. That is, unless your objective is to be a power lifter.

For all athletes, training is critical, but just as importantly are nutrition, rest and recovery, and the mind body connection. This article is part 1 of a Power Nutrition series identifying critical components, or “mistakes”, many young and inexperienced athletes should address to maximize their fitness regimens in order to achieve greater gains.

Three key points will be covered in this article.

1. Proper Form
2. Temporary Muscle Failure
3. Full Body Workouts

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

We’ve all heard at one time or another the old adage, “practice makes perfect”. This, of course, has a great deal of truth to it. Somewhere along the line, however, this saying was enhanced to suggest “Perfect practice makes perfect”. This, is entirely true. Especially as it pertains to fitness training.

Failure to Use Proper Form

This leads us to our first point, “failure to use proper form”. Strength and power are critical for athletes today and we all want to achieve the highest levels of these attributes as quickly as possible. Attempting to get too strong too fast has a variety of consequences including a greater risk of injury, a negative impact on joint growth, and limitations on strength gains. The first two consequences are pretty obvious, but the third not so much. Proper lifting form with a controllable weight allows the muscle to “learn” how to innervate a greater number of muscle fibers, regardless of the type. Controlled reps with less weight typically lead to higher levels of explosiveness and sustainability of the load than does heavy weight being lifted in an uncontrolled fashion. With the former method, it is also more likely that one can maintain the resistance for a greater period of time. This is fundamental to the balancing act of strength and explosiveness versus endurance which can be difficult for less experienced athletes often have very little understanding of. Using proper form with controllable weight will help you better master this balance required by most sports.

Overload Principal

The “Overload Principal” is not new science. In fact, it’s origin dates back to some time in ancient Greece when a man named Milo of Crotona began squatting a calf (yes, the animal) until it became a mature bull. As the calf got bigger and stronger so did Milo. Whether this is entirely true or has been a bit exaggerated over time, a fundamental discovery was made. Increasing load bearing resistance during muscle contractility will progressively increase the capacity to move greater loads (i.e. muscle adaptation). Again, nothing new here. There is a caveat though which brings us to our second point, “failure to achieve temporary muscle failure”. Truthfully speaking, you could continue to gain strength by doing your 1 rep-max each time you lifted weights. Fundamentally, though, this is not only impractical, but it does very little for your endurance for athletic purposes. Here again it’s important to concentrate on the balancing act truly dynamic athletes must be conscientious of. The key takeaway here is that it is absolutely critical to work your muscle, regardless of the weight, to a point of temporary muscle failure. Falling short of achieving complete muscle fatigue during an exercise will not lead to an adequate activation of the body’s growth mechanism response. Why? Because the body is already capable of doing what you’ve asked it to do. Simply stated, we need to press our muscles beyond their current capabilities in order for it to adapt. Please keep in mind that this sort of training is best done with a partner who can provide a spot for you and even assist with completing the final incomplete repetition of a set. This is often referred to as a “forced rep”.

Full-Body Workout

Finally, and possibly most importantly of the three components we will mention. When training for strength and size, it is essential to do a “full-body workout”. Sadly, through the years I’ve encountered many young people as well as more mature lifters who limit their overall potential because they fail to recognize the cooperative and synergistic effect full body training provides. We’ve all know the person with great biceps who doesn’t appear to have triceps at all. Or the person with the “six-pack” abs that hasn’t a clue how to do an exercise for their back. This may not be so detrimental if you are training simply for your appearance, although, when training for athletics it could be of the worst mistakes you could make. The primary reason for this is injury risk. When training specific muscle over-concentrating on one muscle or group of muscles over it’s opposing group tends to lead to injury. This may happen in the gym or possibly during competition or a practice. The key principal here is that our body’s muscles work in a complementary fashion and support opposing muscle groups during concentric and eccentric movements. When training or performing an athletic activity the opposing actions of the muscle provide stability for the body. When there is instability the risk of injury is increased exponentially as one of the opposing groups reaches a point of fatigue before the other. Secondly, If you are in the gym training for strength the inability to stabilize or otherwise control the weight will significantly limit your progress and growth. This concept is inter-related to the first concept, “failure to use proper form”.

Following Fundamental Principals Makes Athlethic Goals More Attainable

Following these principals may not always seem as easy as one would think. It’s quite easy to get caught up in the gym with the concern of how we are being perceived by others while we are training. Thus, lifting heavy weights and doing the exercises we are most proficient at or simply have a genetic predisposition to do better than another is an easy trap to fall into. Stay focused and balanced. Follow these fundamental principals and your athletic goals will be all the more attainable. Remember, this is why you are training in the first place. You may find that you are already doing some or all of the above. If that’s the case, great! You are clearly a step ahead of most other athletes in the gym. If your not following these critical practices, be aware that someone out there may be getting a little bit better than you each time they train. For those with aspirations of playing beyond high school or professionally, it’s important to recognize the difference between making it from one level to the next can be minimal. For everyone however, please stay tuned as subsequent issues in this series will address some of the finer points that will allow you to maximize your training for achieving your personal athletic goals.