| AREAS OF INTEREST: RESISTANCE TRAINING, POWER BLOCKS, SPORT CORD, STRENGTH, MUSCULAR ENDURANCE.
by: Tom Seabourne Ph. D |
PowerBlocks or SportCord training must be an integral part of any exercise program to achieve total-body health and fitness. You can dramatically improve the way you look, feel, and perform just by resistance training.
Resistance training improves your outward appearance and has far-reaching effects on your physical well-being. You’ll be able to sculpt your body, improve your health, and enhance your performance. When you add strength training to your jogging workouts, you’ll improve your cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, body composition, and flexibility. Resistance training is your secret weapon for total fitness!
You no doubt desire a nice shape for your body. There is no better way to contour and streamline your physique than to lift weights. Although you cannot spot-lose body fat, you can tone up and increase the size of your muscles. This is the key to a firm, strong, shapely body. You can even use upper body exercises to increase the size of your shoulders and upper back to create the illusion of a small waistline.
You may derive different results than your buddy on the same strength training program. This is because body type plays a major role in your development. You may not want to grow slabs of muscle like a professional bodybuilder, but you can develop whatever muscle you have. Regardless of your body type, unless you inject illegal supplements, you should not be concerned about transforming into the hulk.
There are three different body types:
A mesomorphic body type is one with well-defined muscles on the trunk and limbs. These folks are broader in the shoulders and hips and narrower at the waist. They have a high muscle-to-fat ratio and look fit even without weight training. Mesomorphs who lift weights notice a dramatic increase in strength and muscle mass.
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An endomorphic body type is rounder, softer, and pear-shaped. There is more fat surrounding their gluteals and thighs. Their muscles are not well-defined and they have a higher fat-to-muscle ratio. Weight training helps with fat loss, but you must be patient. Resistance programs should focus on upper body development to balance the endomorph’s larger hip proportions.
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An ectomorphic body type is long and rectangular, flat chested, slender in the hips, with no defined waist. Ectomorphs have poor muscle development with relatively low body weight. This body type has difficulty retaining muscle. Ectomorphs must take in enough calories to balance their weight training caloric expenditure.
No matter which body type you possess, you will harvest the rewards of Power Blocks—a leaner and stronger body. You’ll see the improvement in your outward appearance, but more importantly, you’ll also feel the difference.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that strength training be an integral part of an adult fitness program. This is because weight training does not just produce cosmetic benefits, but delivers results you can feel as well as see.
You can look forward to the following improvements in your health:
- Lower blood pressure
- increase in food transit time through the colon to combat some types of cancer.
- Increased bone density, thereby decreasing your chance for osteoporosis.
- An increase in good HDL cholesterol.
More muscle helps prevent type II diabetes because additional muscle uses more oxygen, and takes up extra sugar. Lower blood sugar levels are important for the prevention of type II diabetes. It’s no secret that a healthy body will improve your performance in everything that you do. If you are stronger, you can carry groceries up a flight of stairs without a second thought. Resistance training, specifically, will bring your overall productivity to a new level. Resistance-trained men and women generally have better reaction times, increased flexibility, endurance, and leaner body mass than non-lifters. This makes everything easier—whether it’s climbing up a hill or mowing your yard.
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