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| Issue date: Maj 5, 2008 |
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Upcoming articles |
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Race Day Practice Tips |
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Can You Gain Muscle Weight Without Getting Fat? |
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The Real Health Deal In Drinking Raw Milk |
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After working on this technique, it'll become second nature. Go ahead on your next practice ride |
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Sometimes things just aren't going right or you misjudge a particular jump. You go airborne but your front wheel just isn't right; it's either too high or too low and you know it. Most riders will catch the error at the last minute. If it's too high they'll engage the clutch while hitting the rear brake. Down she comes.
If the front wheel is too low, you'll see them juice the throttle to make that adjustment and bring the nose up. Are these methods the best way to handle the situation? Nope. That just wastes time and momentum, the two things that you can't afford to waste.
Watch the pros and you'll see how they handle the angle adjustment. They just go with the flow and use body English. That's why they win. They never give up any speed or forward momentum. They just use their bike as an extension of their body, not as a tool of it. They use body English to consistently make tiny corrections that saves them valuable milliseconds of forward momentum.
For instance, imagine coming off the jump with the front wheel too high. You know this is going to cost you dearly if you don't do something right away. You'll land badly and lose your lead. What do you do? Just thrust your hips forward and that will force the nose down. If the wheel is too high, just do the opposite
After working on this technique, it'll become second nature. Go ahead on your next practice ride. Go off the face wrong on purpose and use your body to make the correction. Be as one with the bike.
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| Adaptions to Sprint Training |
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If you are looking to improve your physical conditioning, sprint training is one of the best ways to go about doing so. |
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Many individuals also prefer this type of training because it takes a lot less time than traditional forms of cardio that have you going for thirty to sixty minutes at a time.
Additionally, there are a great many benefits that come along with doing the more intense sprinting type of activity.
EPOC
One of the biggest benefits you'll get from this form of training is the EPOC effects it creates. This is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption and is where the body will expend a great deal of calories returning the body back to its former state after the workout.
Because sprint training is so intense, this will contribute to a large calorie burn after you have finished the workout.
Metabolic Adaptations
Next, when you perform a number of sprint sessions, the body will upregulate its ability to produce enzymes that are going to work at increasing the storage capacity of the muscle for energy substrates such as ATP.
This then has the corresponding effect of allowing you to work out harder for a longer period of time without fatigue setting in. Note though that this occurs when you are working more on the aerobic side of things, so while it is intense, you are still utilizing oxygen.
If no oxygen is present, you will only be able to last 5-20 seconds, regardless of how well condition you are (the better condition you are though, the harder you will be able to work during that time).
Phosphate Metabolism
The next benefit you'll get with sprint training is its effect on phosphate metabolism. Phosphate creatine stores comprise a major component of the body's fuel source for muscular activity, so anything you can do to increase this is going to be beneficial.
Myokinase is an enzyme that is responsible for resynthesizing the energy from phosphate creatine, and with sprint training, it will increase its concentration within the muscle tissue by up to 20%.
Glycolysis
The next adaptation that will occur after you've been doing sprint training for a period of time is that of glycolysis. This is the primary form of metabolism used during a 10 second all out sprint and contributes between 55 and 75% towards energy production during exercise. Phosphofructokinase (PFK), an enzyme that catalyses the phosphorylation of the glycolytic intermediate fructose 6-phosphate) has also been shown to increase when sprint training is performed, along with the enzymes of lactate dehydrogenase and glycogen phosphorylase (other enzymes responsible for the glycolysis system).
Intramuscular Buffering Capacity
Finally, the last adaptation that's seen with sprint training is the buffering capacity of the muscle. During glycoglysis, various byproducts are created such as lactic acid, and when these accumulate, it causes the extreme feelings of fatigue in the muscle tissues.
This then forces you to stop exercising as the fatigue sets in and often will be the end of your workout.
Overtime, sprint training will increase your ability to buffer these byproducts so that you can then workout for a longer period of time while maintaining that intensity.
So, next time you're debating about whether to do a sprint training session or a moderate paced cardio session lasting for 40 minutes or so, opt for the sprint session.
The benefits you'll receive are far more numerous and fat loss will be kicked up a notch as an added benefit. Keep in mind that for this these type of benefits to occur, you want your sprints to last somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 seconds to 40 seconds, with a work to rest ration of about 1:2. Repeat this process a total of 6 to 8 times and begin and end with a five minute warm-up and cool-down.
About the Author:
Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before. © 2006-2008, Vince DelMonte Fitness. All rights in all media reserved. You may reprint this article so long as the article and author bio are reprinted intake and all links are made live. This article may never be sold individually or as part of a package.
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| Nutritional Supplements Put a Kick Into Your Daily Life |
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Supplements will help you in your daily life |
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You have a busy lifestyle. You take a back seat while shepherding children through their day.
Your business life makes demands on you daily. Stress surrounds you. All the while you are mindful to eat and prepare healthy meals guided by the accepted American Pyramid suggestions whenever possible. So, why on earth should you take nutritional supplements?
Why not? It's an easy and painless way to help your body stay in balance, counter the stress you are under and support your overall health.
First of all, congratulations! … you are doing a great job! A balanced diet, daily exercise, nurturing your Spiritual Center and harmonious relationships, getting quality sleep and laughing often are health enhancing and keeping that up will serve you well! You and your family want to be healthy and active and concentrate on enjoying life!
Most of all, you know that you are responsible for your health and, if it applies, for the health of your family as well. That's why you need nutritional supplements and here are some of the compelling reasons:
Preventing illness and disease is a good reason to be alert and knowledgeable about nutritional supplements. "You are what you eat," is an old adage that points to the fact that when someone gets ill, food is often to blame. It may be that food, although we eat enough, leaves us undernourished because of its lack of vital nutrients, or because its nutrients are balanced into one direction. Often your diet contains too many empty calories and not enough complete nutrients such as complete carbohydrates. Think about what's available in Fast Food Eateries or even on your dinner table! Even if what you put on your table and into your mouth is balanced and filling, in our modern society you are still vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies that underlie many illnesses.
Would you believe that way back in 1937, before most of you readers were born, the United States Congress was made aware of the fact that soils were so severely depleted of nutrients to no longer be able to produce vegetables with their full complement of vitamins and trace minerals (Senate Document #264). Folks, this has not changed for the better since then. The carrot you buy today has no longer the nutritional value of the carrot your ancestors raised 200 years ago! Not by a long shot!
Processed (synthetic, chemically-nurtured) foods containing additives and free radicals can and will create disease and un-wellness in you, not to mention unwanted weight gain! The more a food is processed, the more it loses its innate nutrients and the more it adds substances that have no nutritional value to you! Just read your food labels!
Unlike our ancestors, we are dealing today with increased pollution together with the generally declining nutritional value of our foods. You breathe air every day and drink water that bring a multitude of toxic pollutants such as free radicals right into your body.
Not all nutritional supplements are created equal! Growing and processing conditions of a particular nutrient can be very diverse and the proportion of fillers to active ingredients can be skewed, so you may get very little of what really matters. You need to select carefully to balance your body's needs and give you that protective edge to help you live a healthy life. Vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and trace elements etc. are protecting and improving your health. Good nutrition (the foods you eat combined with the right nutritional supplements) is the key to optimum health – and who wants to be ill? Not I, and you not either!
© 2007 Copyright -- Britt Mittemeijer. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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