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New clients are usually in the dark when it comes to their specific capabilities and molding their training according to their specific genetic potential. When we discuss body typing we generally refer to 3 specific types. Although it is possible to drift from one type to another, it demands serious determination to change your genetics. Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses and should be trained accordingly.

Endomorph:

This body type refers to those people who genetically are larger and who have masses of muscle. This is not the body type of a person who has gained weight because of diet. It is a specific, powerful body type. Endomorphs are incredibly strong yet they have poor endurance. Their metabolic rate is generally slower and diet is of major concern.

When I train this body type, I focus initially on the endurance capability. Also, lots of flexibility training. Training this type with body weight movements works wonderfully, as Endomorphs are generally quite heavy set. Using power training for Endomorphs will only make the weight increase as they respond too well. This is detrimental to my vision of a healthy, capable body able to move freely in any situation.

Ectomorph:

This is generally the less muscular type of body. The skinny guy/ girl who struggles to build muscle. For women this is generally the goal. Ectomorphs have a tendency to gravitate toward exercise that demands endurance, like running or basketball, and you can easily identify this body type on the catwalks around the world. This body type typically has a super fast metabolism and can eat large amounts of calories without gaining weight.

I focus on power work with type and use mainly multi-joint exercise, as it tends to develop all muscle systems simultaneously. This type struggles with strength training as much as Endomorphs struggle with cardio! As, always I focus on the weaknesses rather than the strengths, so limit cardio to 20 mins a day if you want to focus on developing muscle.

Mesomorph:

As with most things there is a middle ground. The mesomorphic type has some strength capability and some endurance, however it is rare that they will be as strong, or as fit as the endo- or Ectomorph respectively.

Generally, this is the body type men aim for, although some want to more move toward the meso/endo- combination. For this body type you could use any type of work as long as it focuses on your specific weaknesses. If you are less fit, you need to do more cardio; less strong, you need more strength training.

The mesomorphic type is generally the goal I try to achieve with my clients. I like to train all types to reach this level. When you have, the best training style is to use power movements in a circuit system: This both taps into your power capability and your aerobic endurance system.

Body types do play a role in what you are able to achieve. They are largely genetically predetermined; however, it is possible to change with hard work. As mentioned previously, take time to identify your weaknesses and work to turn them into strengths. This will allow you to exceed your expectations and you will feel the elation of success. Training to your strengths is nothing special, and you will accomplish less in the long term.

Kind regards

Jason Hough

 

An important concept to understand in movement is that of Antagonistic and synergistic muscular actions. It refers to the ability of your body to resist- or assist movements to aid in control of speed, balance and force of contraction.

 

Why this is important:

The body needs to be able to control speed of contraction if it is to perform movements safely and effectively. Over contraction can lead to injury and decreased performance. In a sport situation, fine motor control means accuracy and precision. Movements need to be executed effectively, repeatedly, and sometimes adjusted if you are to get the desired result.  This is where the brain uses muscle contractions to help or oppose these conditions.

 

Antagonistic control refers to the action of opposing muscles for example the contraction of the Biceps group to slow down the extension of the triceps group. This type of control is demonstrated in the internal and external oblique contraction, where the internal oblique will cause torso rotation, but the external oblique on the opposing side will control the contraction to help control speed, balance and co-ordination. 

 

Failure to train the antagonistic aspect of muscles is one of the leading causes of poor posture and injury in individuals. By focusing on the prime movers ie chest in the bench press, but failing to strengthen the rear deltoid and back, will lead to a forward shoulder posture and subsequent neck, back shoulder pain. Antagonistic training helps to improve balance in the muscle systems. These muscles are the stabilizers you hear so much about. Focus on balancing your quad training by strengthening your hamstrings. Your chest, by training back and so forth.

 

 

This leads to synergistic contractions. These refer to the ability of the brain to recruit muscle to assist in contraction. When you analyze that movements are performed by groups of muscles you can see the groups work together to cause a result. For example the quads and glutes contract together in the squat to help with the movement. Functional/Integrated training demands that you recruit the groups together so that you improve the overall performance of the system. Training muscles individually, in isolation will ignore their natural tendency to work as systems and thereby encourage muscle imbalance.

 

This has just been a brief overview of Antagonistic and Synergistic muscular contraction. The main point is that you need to look at your body as a system of integrated kinetic chains, that all work together, coordinated by your brain so that they can perform simple- and complex movement patterns. Training your muscles in isolation will make them look good, for sure, but it doesn’t make them perform well in real life situations. Having muscle imbalance and stability deficiency will eventually cause injury.

 

Kind regards

 

Jason Hough

 

 

 

Welcome readers…

 For me as a movement-orientated trainer I would like to draw your attention to the way your brain learns movement and how it is important to know so that you can implement your learning mode in training.

 Once again, I feel it necessary to bring to your attention that your brain does not learn how to contract muscles… it learns how to execute movements. This is the way it is designed and this is the way you should train it. INTEGRATE DON’T ISOLATE!

 There are many different learning styles that you can use to learn a movement. I will mention the ones I like to use:

 Verbal cues: Obviously, this style involves being instructed verbally and then your brain translates this information into movement.

 Visual cues: This technique utilizes our natural ability to imitate what we see. So you learn by forming a picture of what is demonstrated and then try to reform that image using your own body.

 Repetition:  After you have formed a reasonable idea of what is expected of you regarding a certain movement, you need execute the movement yourself so that you can form neural pathways to co ordinate the order and speeds of muscle contraction within a given movement.

Perception: The most important way we learn is to feel the movement. Your body has with in it several types of receptors that will help you to co-ordinate movement. Since your body, naturally, has certain patterns and skills available it uses these to help you learn new applications.  By concetrating on how the movement feels you involve your brains learning certer to help with the audio and visual stimulus of a demonstration. 

 NOTE that effective execution of movement depends on the feedback you will receive from your trainer, as well as from your body.  Every time that you  perform a movement correctly and are given positive feedback your brain will try to repeat the performance until it is natural. However, if you perform the movement incorrectly and are not adjusted you will learn it that way and are likely to execute it wrongly in the future.  The more you do a given movement the quicker your brain will retrieve the learnt pattern from memory.

 It is obvious from the model that you don’t learn movement by focusing on individual muscular contractions. If you consider the timing, tension, speed and balance components that need to be controlled and adjusted when you squat it would be inefficient for you brain to concentrate individually on each muscle contraction. Instead, your body relies on the PREVIOUSLY LEARNED MOVEMENT PATTERN.

 This leads us on to the next part of the article…

Generalized Motor Programs.  This refers to the fact that your brain does not store the learned information as specific movements. Rather it will store it in retrievable pieces, called Chunks. An example of this is also the squat.  Your brain stores the same General Motor Program for the squat as it does for sitting on a chair, or for getting up from one, or for lifting something off the floor. This same motor pattern is used in all the movements so it is more efficient to store one program than all the different ones. The same is true for all movements.

 This is another reason why the PRIMAL MOVEMENT patterns( See my previous posts) are relevant… they are some of the most basic GERENALIZED MOTOR PROGRAMS that we have like Squatting, Lunging, Bending, Pushing, Pulling and Walking. 

 By understanding how the brain stores this information it makes it easier to understand that if we can train parts of the movement in stages, remember the chunks, we can assist in putting them all together to for a flowing movement. An example is a baseball throw. When you analyze this movement, you will see that it consists of a Squat, a bend, a lunge and the push, along with the stabilization and balance components in between. Training each separate chunk and then coordinating them as the whole will improve the pitch overall.

  This is just a basic introduction for the rationale I use to train functional athletes. The old style of using a body builder strength approach does not work when you apply exercise to sport. Real life exercise rarely requires maximal strength output; rather it requires efficient contractions, which are properly controlled, with correct timing of several moving parts, balanced over an unstable base of support! This is probably the furthest thing away from an isolation preacher bicep curl as you will get.  This is why I find it so funny that fighters want to do biceps curls or leg extensions, when they would develop doubtlessly more powerful and efficient muscles using the pull up or squat movement, even better would be a single leg- single arm row to stimulate the posterior chain. This  mimics the deceleration aspect of punching or running.

 I hope you can translate the way you learn into helping you to stimulate your muscle systems as much as possible. Training muscles in isolation moves them away from their natural ability to work as systems. Rather integrate the movents so that you involve your brain.

 Kind regards

 Jason Hough

 Hello readers

 ‘Vibration Technology’ has become the latest buzzword in exercise.  This is the obvious result of claims that 10 minutes is all you need. With our population becoming more and more lazy, it is not surprising that people would succumb to this sort of marketing strategy.

Vibration technology does have some significant benefits, as well as drawbacks.  For the purpose of this article, I will focus on the Power Plate, as I believe that it is the Gold Standard of this type of machine and I have seen the studies. Most other ‘Cheaper’ machines DO NOT use Vibration technology, rather they rock side to side, which is NOT the proper movement and could place great strain on your hips, knees and ankle joints.

At the onset, I would like to stress that most studies have been conducted on a control group of previously inactive individuals. This means they are not trained individuals. The ‘Ten Minute Success’ strategy is aimed at this group of people. Power Plate is a tool for exercise, not the Holy Grail, and it should be used properly. It is true that results on sedentary individuals are significant, but this should be kept in context.

The effect of Vibrations on the muscle system is quite significant and exiting to witness. Vibrations of the right type can cause major increases in strength, fitness and flexibility, as well as stimulation the neurological responses between muscles and your brain. Exercise can be performed safely and effectively in a limited space, with limited knowledge and with great success.

 The Power plate works by stimulating your muscle reflexes. It was developed to help downhill skiers to train in the summer months, without snow.  The vibration movement simulates skiing downhill: The athlete holds a semi-squat position, whilst the floor(Mountain) moves very quickly under his/her feet.  By the power plate vibrating very quickly in all three dimensions, it forces your muscles to react very quickly to an ever changing base of support. The plate movement is up to 2 cm deep. This simulates muscle contraction through a range.  Also at the highest setting your muscles can do up to 3000 contractions in one minute!

 One specific thing to note about your body is that it has a natural level of vibration. This is about 18 Hz.  It is necessary for you to exercise at a level above this, to prevent damaging your cells and tissues. The power plate starts at 30 Hz. This is another reason to be careful of imitations. If the machine does not vibrate above 20 Hz, you could be causing internal damage to your tissues!

 The Power Plate allows you to exercise using plyometric principles of movement. This means you can train your power system. The vibrations also mean that you activate up to 90% of your muscle tissue, whereas regular resistance training only stimulates less than 60 %.

Before using the Plate it is very important that you consult you doctor to obtain clearance. There are certain medical conditions that are definitely of limits. These include deep vein thrombosis, Pace makers, Pregnancy, hip or knee replacement surgery and some others.  Get clearance if you have doubts.
 I will again stress the need to have someone qualified teach you this exercise modality. It is dangerous just to jump on, as there are specific postures that will cause you pain and discomfort if you do not know what you are doing. Get educated and then go ahead and use at will.

 I have been using the power plate with my clients for 2 years now with great results.

 Kind regards

 Jason Hough
Personal Trainer
Renaissance Body Science Institute
Cape Town
Mobile (27) 763 970 284

    

  

Good morning all

 As a functional athlete, it is essential that you develop both static- and dynamic stability.  Although inter-related to each other, it is important that you develop each separately as part of a complete program design.  Often the biggest weakness that I find in clients is the lack of static balance and stability.  This has a carry over effect in that your maximal lifting performance is governed by your Static strength. This is what makes Olympic lifting so exciting. These men and women, not only display incredible dynamic strength and balance, but also exhibit unbelievable static control over their lifts.

So what is static balance:  It is the natural strength component you use when trying to hold an object still, body weight or otherwise, by controlling the forces of gravity placed on that object.  A simple exercise is the plank position. This is a prime example of how you hold posture over a static base. We can use this specific exercise to identify weaknesses that are evident in your stability systems, both anterior and posterior. 
If you cannot maintain proper control or posture whilst in Static positions you should not progress to movements that require this type of strength, For example a Squat or deadlift or even overhead press.

Your static strength is much more important to injury prevention than being able to lift heavy weights. Stabilization, specifically core strength, is essential in every movement.  Most of the time, it is the lack of stability strength that leads to injury or not being able to lift according to your power-to-weight ratios.

Because I am interested in activating nerve and brain response to exercise, it is often these exercises that cause quick adaptation and increases in strength.

All Static stability exercises make use of the isometric system of contraction.
Examples of static balance exercises are Plank, Bridge, Side Plank, Isometric Squats, and Static Lunges.
For advanced click here

 Dynamic stability is the ability to control a lift whilst moving. This is evident in the Clean and jerk movement, where your body must control an external resistance whilst it is moving.

 Dynamic Stability requires that you maintain balance and control over a changing base of support.  This principle is best demonstrated in the sports situation. Consider a baseball player, who upon fielding a ground ball, needs to deliver an accurate throw of maximal power whilst running at full speed.  This is Dynamic Stability.

 Most people focus on lifting movements and this is where they measure their progress. It is important that you develop BOTH systems because both are active all the time. Not paying attention to your static balance and strength system will lead to dominance of certain muscles over the stabilizers and that will eventually lead to injury.

Note: Besides typical Core stabilization, their is another system that is important. This is the Pillar. ‘Pillar stabilization’ refers to stabilizing the shoulder and hip systems, which attach your limbs to your core. These systems often are ignored yet they are pivotal in providing effective dynamic stability.

Remember that your goal is to perform effectively and safely in a moving environment, yet to accomplish this you need to be stabile in both static and dynamic situations.

I have  found that doing isometric exercise is far safer than using dynamic exercise. You can stimulate muscle motor units without great loads and get great gains in power without maximal lifting.   This principle is clear when you consider Power Plate exercise.  The power plate requires that you hold a static position whilst the machine vibrates underneath you. This causes a plyometric effect in your tissues. I will discuss the power plate as an exercise medium in my next post.

 Kind regards

 Jason Hough
Personal Trainer
Renaissance Body Science Institute
Cape Town
Mobile (27) 763 970 284

    

Hello there,

My friend and colleague Jonathan Mannheim submitted this post.  Enjoy!

It is generally accepted that muscle fibers can be broken down into two main types:

Type I (slow twitch) muscle fibers and Type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers.Fast twitch muscle fibers can further be broken down into Type IIa and IIb fibers. The average human being has about 50% slow twitch and 50% fast twitch muscle fibres in most of the muscles used for movement. E.g. Front thigh, Hamstrings, Chest etc.Each fiber type is also unique in its ability to contract in a certain way and at certain speeds. 

Slow Twitch Type I fibers:
These muscle fibers are better and more efficient at using oxygen in the blood stream to generate ATP (fuel) over extended periods. They typically are geared towards aerobic (with the presence of oxygen) metabolism. They contract more slowly and can go for hours before fatiguing. Therefore slow twitch fibers are great at helping long distance runners, rowers and cyclists at sustaining the activity they are involved in for longer periods. Â
 Fast Twitch Type II fibers:
These fibers are more responsive at creating short bursts of energy to move the body or an obstacle in the body’s path from A-B in a short yet powerful burst of strength or speed. Fast twitch fibers produce the same amount of force per contraction as slow twitch muscle fibers, but are able to fire more rapidly. They use anaerobic metabolism to create ATP (fuel). 

Type IIa fibres:These fast twitch muscle fibers are also known as intermediate fast-twitch fibers. They can use both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism almost equally to create energy. In this way, they are a combination of Type I and Type II muscle fibers. 

Type IIb fibres:These fibers use purely anaerobic (without the presence of oxygen) metabolism to create energy and are the fibers responsible for producing quick, powerful & explosive movements. This fiber type has the highest and fastest contraction rate but with that comes a faster rate of fatigue too. Have you ever tried squatting 120kg for 100reps or more, ain’t gonna happen, you will hit fatigue way before you reach this point. 

Can training change fiber type?

This is not entirely understood, and research is still looking at that question. There is some evidence showing that human skeletal muscle may switch fiber types from “fast” to “slow” due to training and that once the switch has occurred it cannot be reversed.  

Jason Says: Remember that you can train certain fibres to display the characteristics of the other types.  This means that you can make ‘Strong’ Muscles ‘Fitter’ and also ‘Fit’ Muscles ‘ Stronger. 

Kind Regards

Jonathan Mannheim

Rennaissance Body Science InstituteEta National Diploma (Exercise Specialist)    

Isotonic-, isometric- and isokinetic contractions…

Hello there,

It is important for you to know what different types of contractions your body produces because it will help you to vary your training. If you take one exercise and apply the different principles you will build much better quality muscle. 

Isotonic contractions (Same Force) refer to muscle movements that require the same effort to produce a result. The action is reproduced over and over again with the same result in the muscle fiber. This is the most common type of contraction used in exercise e.g. walking, squatting etc

There are two types of isotonic contractions 1) Concentric- and 2) Eccentric ContractionsConcentric contractions involve a shortening of the muscle to overcome a force. This is also called the positive part of your movement.

Eccentric contraction involves the lengthening of the muscle whilst contracting against the force. This is referred to as a negative contraction.  These contractions work very well to increase strength as you can hold more weight than you can push.  

Isometric contractions (Same length) refer to movements where no shortening of muscle fibers takes place, although the muscle is contracting e.g. pushing against a wall or holding a plank position. 

The third type is an isokinetic contraction (Same speed).  An example of this is the swimmers stroke where the water provides resistance and the stroke is constant. 

What this means for you…
Knowing where you can adapt your movements to maximize your bodies adaptive ability and increase intensity will develop more complete muscles.  By using eccentric contractions and slow tempo you will be able to concentrate on correct technique and stabilize your joints effectively.Kind regards

Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Mobile ( 27 ) 763 970 284

This is a stabilization mechanism of your abdominal wall against your spine which allows you to lift heavy weight. 

It is imperative to all Power Lifts that you develop the proper breathing pattern so that you allow your Thoracic – Lumbar Stabilization Mechanism to provide the needed support for your lift.

The Valsalva maneuver requires that you first inhale to fill your lungs before you begin your lift.  This allows your abdominal muscles to contract against the air volume and press into your spine, providing tremendous stability and protecting your vertebrae.
It is important to note that ladies, who are pregnant, should be especially aware that they AVOID all exercises increase intra-abdominal pressure, as this can decrease blood flow to baby, who is already competing for space!
 Read more…  

Kind regards

Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Mobile ( 27 ) 763 970 284

Hello there.. 

Often I discuss the need to use both cardio type- and resistance training as the way to a complete physique. The reason is that these two modalities represent the two energy producing systems in your body. 

AEROBIC energy production basically means producing energy with the help of oxygen.  Typically this means that energy for muscular function is produced from the sugar (Glycogen) and oxygen that is inside your blood. The muscles can use this energy to produce sub-maximal, sustained contractions for extended periods of time. For example consider running.  The reason for the long duration is that this energy is transferred to the blood from stored carbohydrate and fat in the body and is easy to replace. 

ANAEROBIC energy production refers to contractions that happen without the help of oxygen.  This means that muscle contraction occurs because of the energy that is stored within the muscle cells themselves!  These contractions produce tremendous force but cannot be sustained because the intra cellular energy is depleted quickly, typically within 90 seconds.  However, it must be noted that this energy is quickly replaced and contraction can resume until muscular fatigue occurs. 

It is important to understand that neither of these systems works independently of the other. Being proficient in one aspect will assist you in improving performance in the other. 

How does this affect you?

Interestingly, you need to realize that the aerobic system is energy efficient, whilst the anaerobic system is energy inefficient.   By focusing on Aerobic training exclusively you are sending a message to your body to store up energy for your next long run…. This is bad because your body stores this energy as fat.  However, stimulating the anaerobic system sends the message to store energy in the muscle. This is good because the muscle cell becomes denser versus the fat cell becoming denser. 

 The relationship between these two systems is important. Without the fitness to feed your muscle recovery you will not be able to perform repetitive maximal exertion.  You need to have repetitive stimulation to force adaptation and Hypertrophy of the muscle cells.  Being fit helps you to lift more resistance, more often!! That means burning more calories and increase your Basal Metabolic Rate.

So think a little about this example…
A long distance runner/cyclist will use an aerobic method to produce energy, whilst the 100m sprinter will use the anaerobic system.  The anaerobic system helps you to build muscle. You want muscle because it burns fat! So using the anaerobic system is of importance to you.  The smartest way to train is to use both systems at once! Try using maximal lifts, but arrange them in a circut so that you force your heart lunge system to work as well.  By repeating the circut you get repetative stimulation to the muscle and you get your fitness trining as well.

By ignoring the benefits of either system you slow down your progress and run the risk of never reaching your genetic potential.  True health and fitness practitioners, this means you, will be aware of the multi dimensional approach to achieving this potential.  

Functional Fitness involves Power, Cardio fitness, Balance, Flexibility, Speed, Agility and proprioception. Not to mention the aspects of health and well being like proper diet, avoiding alcohol abuse and smoking, enough sleep etc.

 In my next post I will focus on hypertrophy and how you can improve your resistance training through  understanding variation.  

Kind regards  

Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Cape Town

Mobile (27) 763 970 284¼/p>

Good day everyone, 

When one considers compound movements as being central to ones exercise regime, one immediately realizes the importance of injury prevention in safe exercise.The forces developed in multi- joint movements place great strain on the tissues surrounding the specific joints involved.  Hence, there is a great need to be aware of proper technique and use of proper warm up and tempo ( speed of movement) to ensure your safety.

The Right Angle Principle is a general rule that, when applied to most exercises allow maximum safety and also proper stressing of the muscular tissue.When one considers for example the lunging movement, which is commonly poorly performed, and which leads to knee or hip flexor strain, both of these situations can be countered by following the 90 degree rule: If one does not allow the weight to be transferred so far that the front knee over extends over the front foot ( knee strain)  or correctly distributes the weight evenly to the back leg, by dropping it into a 90 degree position ( hip flexor strain) the lunge movement can be safely and correctly used to grow and stimulate both the flexor- and extensor muscular chains.

This concept is true for most movements: hyperextension of the shoulder girdle in bench press leads to rotator cuff problems; similarly with the shoulder press movement.  What does this mean for you?
It is important, therefore that one is properly coached, and spotted when using compound movements. After all, your goal is to stimulate muscular growth, not to overstress your joints, tendons and ligaments through improper technique. A personal trainer who is familiar with these movements is necessary, as you need to have a proper demonstration as well as effective instruction.

Kind regards

Jason Hough

Personal Trainer

Renaissance Body Science Institute

Cape Town

Mobile (27) 763 970 284