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You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren – Review

February 26, 2011 By Kyle Leave a Comment

As a Bootcamp Instructor I’m always looking for new bodyweight exercises with little to no equipment necessary. Naturally Amazon knew this and suggested that I might enjoy this book while I was perusing it’s webpages.

Initial Thoughts

It turns out that You Are Your Own Gym was quite good. You can never tell with fitness books until you open them up and have a look inside. While not having as many new body weight exercises as I hoped it still provides a great reference book for every basic bodyweight exercise.

About The Book

Mark Lauren is an ex-Navy SEAL who continues to train the worlds best Special Forces to this day. He uses a combination of bodyweight exercises and high intensity training methods to create short, sharp and effective workouts. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Old Posts Tagged With: bodyweight, book review, exercise, mark lauren, you are your own gym

The Benefits of Exercise: Reduce Chance of Type II Diabetes

January 13, 2010 By Kyle 1 Comment

Diabetes has been getting more and more attention in the newspapers and on TV over the past two years. People are becoming more and more aware that this illness is caused by lack of attention to ones diet. However I don’t think that people realise that while it is manageable, it is definitely no walk in the park.

Type II Diabetes is caused by the pancreas not producing enough insulin. This is usually caused by too much consumption of sweet foods which produce the highest insulin response and eventually can effect your pancreases ability to produce insulin.

Getting Type II Diabetes is really something that you want to avoid at all costs. It is something to be unconcerned about, especially if you are overweight. You CAN avoid getting Type II Diabetes and you should change your ways TODAY to prevent this happening.

insulin There are a few things that people with diabetes have to deal with:

constant monitoring of sugar levels involving pricking skin
administering insulin injections to themselves to maintain insulin levels

If you do not alter your lifestyle with exercise and diet Type II Diabetes can lead to:

Cardiovascular Disease
Retinopathy (leads to blindness, effects 1 in 6 people with diabetes)
Impair kidney function (which can eventually lead to total kidney failure)
Neuropathy (peripheral nerve disease)
Blood vessel damage (both this and Neuropathy can lead to limb amputation, but not before you suffer from excruciating leg ulcers and foot problems)
Erectile dysfunction
Complications during pregnancy

So let me reiterate: HAVING TYPE II DIABETES IS A BIG DEAL

People with Diabetes can also suffer from something caused hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels). This is why they must check their blood sugar levels regularly.

Hypoglycemia can cause dizziness, clumsiness, fainting and even coma.

Hyperglycemia can also cause fatigue but can also cause heart and kidney problems over a long period of time if left unchecked.

The problem is that people could be suffering for many years with hyperglycemia and just assume that they are just tired all the time. It does happen and it is always worth getting a check up if you are feeling unusually tired or weak for a long period of time.

How can you tell if you are at risk?

Waist size has been shown to be directly related for risk of Type II Diabetes.

Women, if your waist size is above 80cm your are in the increased risk group. Over 88cm and you are in the greatly increased risk group.

Men, if your waist size is above 90cm your are in the increased risk group. Over 102cm and you are in the greatly increased risk group.

If your waist size is above this, reducing your waist size is the best way to avoid becoming a diabetic. Doing this through a healthy diet and exercise is the healthiest method and will give you more energy and more confidence.

Best types of exercise to reduce risk of Type II Diabetes:

Any exercise is better than none. I recommend going for a 40 to 60 minute walk tonight to get it started. Try out some different sports (tennis, basketball, squash, etc) or cardiovascular activities (bootcamp, running, cycling, swimming, skipping etc) and pick ones that you enjoy to continue doing.

It’s never too late to start and taking that first step is the hardest. Get started today!

Best changes to diet to reduce risk of Type II Diabetes:

measure tummy Foods to Avoid

Foods high in sugar
Refined grains
High GI starchy foods

Examples:

soft drink
sweets
ice cream
white bread
white potatoes
white rice
cornflakes
french fries
white bread

Filed Under: Old Posts Tagged With: diabetes, featured, high gi foods, hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, type ii diabetes

What is Your Posterior Chain?

January 11, 2010 By Kyle Leave a Comment

I’ll get straight to the point, your posterior chain is made up of your gluteals, hamstrings, erector spinae (ES) and quadratus lumborum (QL) (lower back).

It is basically all of the muscles that run down the posterior (or rear) of your body and is also one of the most underdeveloped areas on the average gym goers body. If you don’t know what your posterior chain is, chances are that you don’t train it as hard as the anterior (or front – chest, biceps, quads) portion of your body.

What does it do?

The posterior chain acts just like that, a ‘chain’. All of the muscles contract together to straighten your hips and is one of the greatest forces your body can produce. Let’s go into a little more detail.

Gluteus Maximus

This muscle begins along the posterior of the illium, sacrum and coccyx and inserts onto the femur along the posterior and medial aspects. It is one of the key muscles in hip extension.

In English: It attaches the pelvis to your upper leg bone and causes an increase of angle in the hip joint.

Hamstrings

The hamstrings group is made up of three muscles: Biceps Femoris, Semitendinosus and Semimembranosus. These 3 muscles run along the postierior of the femur. They work together to cause hip extension and knee flexion.

In other words, the hamstrings group sit along the back of the thigh. Like Glute Max it causes your hip to straighten and your knee to bend.

Erector Spinae

The Erector Spinae serves the main purpose of control the movement of your spine. It is made of many muscles that attach all the way from the top of the spine down to your pelvis. It causes rotation of the spine, flexion, extension and lateral flexion. It is a key muscle in maintaining a strong spine and back.

Quadratus Lumborum

The Quadratus Lumborum sits on your posterior around you lower back. It starts at your 12th rib and L1-4 and attached along the posterior part of your illiac crest. It’s function is lateral flexion through ipsilateral contraction and extension of the lumbar spine through bilateral extension.

Best exercises to strengthen your posterior chain

The posterior chain is best strengthened by hip extension exercises. Most people have weak glutes so it’s important that you concentrate on contracting your glutes on the concentric (positive) movement.

Deadlift (and it’s variations: Stiff Leg, Sumo)
Reverse Hyperextensions
Pull Throughs

If you are not feeling it in your glutes then you may need to do some glute activation exercises at the beginning of your workout. My favourite are glute bridges.

If you are feeling it only in your lower back, drop the weight back and really focus on squeezing your glutes to pull the weight up.

Improving your posterior chain will increase the overall stabilisation of your body. You will be able to squat deeper and heavier, bent-over row more weight and if you run, cycle or play sport you should notice a huge improvement in these areas. So stop neglecting these important muscles and get training today!

Filed Under: Old Posts Tagged With: erector spinae, glutes, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, posterior, posterior chain, quadratus lumborum

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