New video, nailed a 140kg front squat the other day and after taking Andrew Callards advice attempted a 6x3 on the back squat at 160kg, here it is, the final set.

Effects of Acute exercise on the body part I

Introduction

During acute exercise your body goes through changes in response to the disruption of homeostasis, as exercise begins the bodily systems kick into action, these systems include the musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system as well as the energy systems all work in harmony in order to allow the vast network of systems and components that make up what we know as our body to function during acute exercise.

The exercise studied is the air squat as shown.

Brief overview of energy systems during acute exercise

During Tabata exercises (4 minutes of 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rest) the body must use all its bodily functions in order to allow you to complete this short but intense exercise, say the exercise used was squats, as the first round of exercise begins the ATP phosphocreatine system instantaneously kicks into play allowing you to quickly manoeuvre, and perform say 21 squats, however, after the first 10 second rest your ATP PC system will not have recovered fully enough for it to play a part within the exercise from now, as this system recovers the body recruits the lactic acid system, this is the point at which the exercise begins to become notoriously intense. As the subject completes the exercise lactic acid builds within their muscles causing a painful and heavy sensation on the subjects’ legs. However, due to the 10 second rest period the body also has the ability to use the aerobic system in order to provide ATP, not only is the use of this extremely efficient energy system helpful to the body in providing ATP for the muscles to use it also helps to combat the lactic acid within the muscles changing it to pyruvate acid. As the body does this it also recruits the bodies other systems in order to allow the energy systems to work efficiently leading to an increase in breathing rate as well as an increased beats per minute.

Effects on the energy systems

ATP PC

As movements begin the ATP PC system ignites a fire allowing intense high paced movements possible, as the system fires it’s behaves similarly to a turbo booster and releases a high amount of energy in a short period of time, as this happens your heart rate immediately increases allowing the ATP in your blood to fuel your muscles as you motor through the first exercises at an almost inhumane pace, the phosphocreatine stores begin their catalysed chemical reactions as the phosphocreatine particles release the phosphate molecules as they attach to the ADP to create ATP, this rapid fire energy system whilst being extremely powerful has a very brief duration which it can be used for. As the ATP PC system can no longer sustain the energy release it begins to use muscle glycogen to provide energy, this is important due to the fact the lactic acid system itself uses the muscle glycogen for energy, therefore this signals the switch of energy systems for the body.

As the exercise is continued the ATP PC system begins recovery, the lactic acid system begins providing energy for the body, after an average 2 minutes the phosphocreatine system has recovered an adequate amount for it to provide added explosive energy.

This explosive energy is important as it allows the body to keep a high rate of pace in the time the body begins using the aerobic system more than the anaerobic system, and allows the body to fire up increasing the pace of the work output without producing carbon dioxide or lactic acid.

As the energy system is used more in high intensity exercises with little rest the recovery rate can dramatically decrease allowing greater use of the ATP PC system during exercise, as the phosphocreatine stores deplete creatine molecules bond with other phosphate molecules within your muscle stores.

This diagram shows how the ATP PC system functions, as you can see the reaction is extremely quick and simple adding to its short duration yet powerful output.

Part 2 focuses on the lactic acid system and aerobic system

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Stanley P. Brown, Introduction to Exercise Science, published Oct 2000.

Camaraderie in the gym

Camaraderie is defined as the spirit of good will and fellowship that exists between friends
Within the workplace camaraderie is important, such as in the workplace, this could be to complete difficult tasks your boss has set and to complete work, however, when in the position where you require a friends assistance you are usually quite happy to ask for the help. Why does this change for many when in the gym?

Work places encourage camaraderie between the employees and  pay thousands for a workshop

I'm sure you've all heard the advice of having a training partner especially one with the similar goals as yourself. Even in crossfit boxes you will notice that often the same few people will be partnered up for certain exercises. But some people aren't fortunate enough to have training partners, this is when they have the choice train solo or get some friends.

          Even if you train within a group of friends you may not be training partners, this is when camaraderie comes into the equation. In November at the Olympic Lifting class at Crossfit Tonbridge everyone managed to successfully jerk 100kg's+, even though there wasn't exactly any novice lifters at the session this was the first time this happened and even though some people failed 100kgs on their first or second attempts there was light and cheerful atmosphere. As everyone cheered each other on there was a sense of teamwork and that together we helped each other to achieve this.

Team AJAX dominated at their first Olympic lifting meet.

But what if you enjoy training solo? There is nothing wrong with this, I personally spent the first few months of my time lifting and felt that it was a solo effort. However, I found there were a few problems with this, one of these being form and discipline and knew I was taking longer breaks than I should have.

               But lately I have made friendships and bonds with those at my box, this has made training more enjoyable in itself as I look forward to sessions and who I will be training with even though we don't necessarily train together. As I train with others and try to achieve new levels of strength and lifting I've found that even when training solo having the odd person give a cue if they notice you've let you're knees fall in or added encouragement for a new 1RM

Just three weeks ago I struggled to get up 180kgs on my deadlift, yet this week I managed to pull 220kg's and 210kgs went up easy.

Overall I think if you are training solo, maybe it's time you turn away from the rack for a second and encourage someone on a big lift, or start making small talk with others at your gym, and most importantly don't forget to welcome new lifters into your gym, they will look up to you and this creates a friendlier environment.
Finally don't be afraid to ask a more experienced lifter some questions, in my experience they are happy to share their wisdom and experiences with you.

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www.liftbigeatbig.com

When a Blog is Born

Did I just compare my blog to the baby Jesus? Never mind.

I'm writing this as I felt I ought to make a blog, properly, perhaps as a source of information, although if you're resourceful you'll click the Lift Big Eat Big tab and get your lifting learners hat on!!
              After a long time of being bullied and being the fat kid I started Crossfit, and then got into Power lifting, I started my training and to this day train at Crossfit Tonbridge. I'm a firm 'believer' in what Pastor B has to say as he enlightens the population one lifter at a time so get clicking on the Lift Big Eat Big tab!! DO IT.

                                             And Pastor B knows how to lift BIG!

Recently I hit a PR on my deadlift of 220kg or 490lbs. This demolished my target of 200kgs!

I feel I should probably give an overview of my targets:
The end of March; Deadlift - 235kg / 527lbs
                            Squat  -  185kg / 407lbs (Can't wait to hit 500!!)
                            Bench -  110kg / 242lbs Yeah I know my bench is behind. I don't like Benching...   But it has to be done for my sport, I'm hoping I'll be training mostly with overhead work!

I hope to see you on my blog again sometime. I'll be updating it regularly, I'm a friendly guy so just email or facebook me, any questions I'll do my best to help you with.

And make sure you check out www.liftbigeatbig.com 

If you don't you're a chump!

Started on baby Jesus, so let's finish with the baby Jesus.

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