Abdominal exercise balls have become quite popular in recent years. They are in gyms, health clubs, on television, and in department stores. The cost is minimal compared to other abdominal exercise products being sold. Before you even consider purchasing the product, you want to know whether or not it will actually produce results.
Performing regular crunches on the floor will help strengthen your abdominal muscles. But the exercise ball requires increased abdominal effort to perform the abdominal exercises. There is additional effort being exerted each time you lower your torso back down on the abdominal exercise ball from the raised position. Your abdominal muscles must remain taut to keep your body stable and stationary on the ball. The additional effort increases the results attained during your regular abdominal exercise regiment.
The experts recommend the abdominal exercise ball is positioned on the lower back. Placement on the upper back will not yield the same results. Based on some studies, individuals should have strong spinal muscle control before they attempt to incorporate the abdominal exercise ball in their stomach exercise program. Otherwise injury may be possible.
Nitrous Oxide (NO) has become very popular in recent years with the weight lifting and body building communities. These communities credit Nitrous Oxide with increased fast-twitch muscle fiber strength, increased endurance, enhanced blood flow, and quicker recovery time. Nitrous Oxide has also been credited with providing an extended pump. The ‘pump’ is the sensation reported by body builders of a constant tightness and strength of the muscles. Some individuals describe it as a feeling that the muscles will tear right through the skin.
Nitrous Oxide is a naturally forming gas within your body. NO is produced by numerous cells in the body and has a half-life of 2-4 seconds. Deficiencies of NO will cause adverse vascular problems such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, heart failure, and atherosclerosis. Nitrous Oxide does in fact govern blood pressure, maintains muscle tone of blood vessels, aids in fighting infections in the body, transmits messages between nerve cells, and has an association with learning, memory, sleeping, and pain.
Because Nitrous Oxide increases blood flow, weight lifters/body builders took an active interest in it. The increased blood flow ensures muscles receive the nutrients they need to perform and to increase in size. The release of adrenaline into the body is another effect of NO that is of interest to weight lifters. Both reactions to NO described above can increase, and possibly expedite, results from weight lifting. Nitrous Oxide can also speed recovery time because it acts as an anti-inflammatory. This decreases pain and allows the muscles to work.
The benefits of Nitrous Oxide are numerous. Research continues on this naturally occurring gas. It is important that you do not ingest too much NO because it will cause diarrhea and nausea. A supplement containing Arginine can help your body process NO more efficiently. NO also helps process Creatine more effectively. If you have any concerns with the recommended dosage, you can speak with your doctor to determine the amount appropriate for you.
Creatine is a naturally occurring organic acid that is a component of the skeletal muscles. Creatine is responsible for supplying energy to muscle and nerve cells and ensuring the ATP/ADP levels remain high. Amino acids are responsible for the biosynthesis of Creatine. After biosynthesis, Creatine is primarily stored in the skeletal muscles, with the remainder being stored in the heart, brain, and testes.
ATP (Adenosine 5-triphosphate) is defined by the Wikipedia Encyclopedia as “a molecular currency of intracellular energy transfer.” In other words, ATP is responsible for transporting energy within the cells. ATP is the main source of energy used during weight lifting. If the ATP levels are depleted, the body must turn to other, less productive, sources of energy.
Researchers have discovered that Creatine may be beneficial in the treatment of some muscular and neuromuscular diseases such as congestive heart failure, Huntington’s disease, and muscular dystrophy. Studies have found that creatine may increase the available energy to injured nerve cells or prevent cell death. Other studies indicate that Creatine may cause small increases in strength also.
Creatine is mainly found in meat and fish. Vegetables do not contain Creatine. Because vegetables do not containe creatine, vegetarines have lower levels of the organic substance in their body. Creatine supplements are available and popular with weight lifters. Research has found Creatine supplements to be generally safe.
One of the most basic questions regarding exercise requiring an answer is whether or not higher repetitions and lighter weights will burn more fat than lower repetitions and higher weights. The answer is no. Performing higher repetitions with lower weights will burn some fat and help moderately tone your body. But to achieve accelerated results, you should really strive to utilize moderate to heavy weights with lower repetitions.
Weight training exhausts the initial energy stores within the body after only minutes. Once the energy stores are exhausted, the body utilizes carbohydrates and begins burning fat. Aerobic exercise requires at least 20 minutes to begin burning fat, and then it only burns fat at a 50% rate. Exercising with lower weights and higher repetitions correlates more to aerobic exercise than weight training. Additional repetitions will have minimal, if any, effect on the amount of fat burned.
If you want to lose fat, higher intensity weight training is recommended. The drawback is that you may experience increases in muscle mass that initially may outpace fat loss. This can have a bulking effect. But if you continue to adhere to a consistent and regular exercise schedule, the fat loss will catch up to the muscle tone you are building. Weight training with higher weights allows your body to continue burning fat at an accelerated rate for several hours after you have ceased exercising. Aerobic exercise ceases burning fat immediately after you have completed exercising.
Your body is comprised of three types of muscles; skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. Each type of muscle serves a different function. Resistance training/ weight lifting utilize the skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles attach to the bones in your body. The muscle groups must work together to perform successful movements without injury. One muscle group must contract while the reciprocal muscle group relaxes to allow the movement to complete.
There are two types of muscles contractions used during weight lifting; concentric contractions and eccentric contractions. When the muscle shortens that is considered a concentric contraction. If the muscle shortens and lengthens simultaneously, that is an eccentric contraction. The concentric contraction occurs usually when you begin a repetition of an exercise. As you begin an exercise, your muscles must contract to allow you to complete the movement. A contraction causes the muscle to shorten.
When you finish the exercise, you must slowly return the weight to the starting position. To accomplish this, your muscles must lengthen. But, at the same time, the muscles have to contract to continue the slow movement to return the weight to the starting position. This is an eccentric contraction. The eccentric contraction is also referred to as negative work. The movement can require more force and strength than the concentric contractions.
Because the eccentric contraction can require additional effort, the contraction can cause muscle soreness. Since the eccentric contraction utilizes two movements and can use greater force, your form during the movement should be precise and controlled. The negative phase of the repetition is just as important, if not more, as the beginning of the movement.
